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From: wilkins@jarthur.claremont.edu (Mark Wilkins)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Answering Machine as Room Bug
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Date: 18 Sep 90 05:54:28 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 658, Message 6 of 8


This is a little different than the problem being dealt with in the
earlier thread, but an associate had a very strange experience and I
was curious if anyone had any idea how it could come about.

This individual, who wants to remain anonymous for obvious reasons,
received an extremely odd call on her answering machine at home.  A
rather mercenary discussion between two college students was recorded,
in which they described such matters as exchanging various social
favors in return for finding each other jobs.

In particular, one of them said something like "She told me I couldn't
have another part-time job at the same time if I wanted this one.  I
was thinking I could recommend you..."

  "Great,"  said the other.

  "If I do it," said the first, "will you buy me clothes, and take me
out to dinner?"

  At first, she just assumed this was crosstalk of some particularly
nasty kind, although the voices were much more clear than they often
are when crosstalk is a problem.

  However, the next day a person she'd been interviewing for a job
came in and said that he was unavailable, but he knew the perfect
person.  Instantly, everything clicked.  He had been the one whose
conversation was recorded on the phone.  Apparently he had a
sophistcated auto-dial speaker phone, either with more than one line
or with three-way calling.

  The question I have is this: Does anyone know of a way that someone
inexperienced with such matters could accidentally set up a three-way
call?  Or did this have to be intentional?  Ignore, for the moment,
the possibility of a strange switching error.  Specifically, do many
types of production phone equipment have bugs which could cause this
sort of thing?

  As it turns out, the position was not funded by higher-ups and
therefore nobody got the job.  However, it is good to know that things
like this can happen, I think, because such accidents could cause
significant damage.


Mark Wilkins
wilkins@jarthur.claremont.edu