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From: whs70@pyuxe.UUCP (W. H. Sohl)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Phone Harassment
Summary: Another impossible claim.
Message-ID: <988@pyuxe.UUCP>
Date: 17 Mar 90 04:34:07 GMT
References: <21849@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <13746@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <1990Mar16.001210.27602@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Followup-To: misc.legal
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Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
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In article <1990Mar16.001210.27602@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, benfeen@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Ben Feen) writes:
> I saw an interesting method of getting back at phone harrassers - It
> involves a car battery, a large capacitor, and some wiring thru your phone.
> I'm not gonna go into it, but if you go through a certain sequence, you can
> send a surge through Ma Bell's wires, straight into the offender's
> handset..........
>
Sorry, but in today's telephone network, this is impossible.  There
isn't a direct electrical conection between your phone and the phone at
the other end.  Yes, there's an electronic path, but it has many
safequards that are designed to prevent "harm to the network".

The situation descrobed above may have worked in older telephone
switching systems, but with the advent of electronic/digital
switching equipment there's simply no way it could occur.

Bill Sohl
Bellcore
bellcore!pyuxe!whs70