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From: sdo@u1100a.UUCP (Scott Orshan)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.legal
Subject: Re: Password hacker gets probation (& other electronic crimes)
Message-ID: <659@u1100a.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-May-84 10:29:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: u1100a.659
Posted: Tue May  8 10:29:14 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 9-May-84 02:25:18 EDT
References: <333@teldata.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway, NJ
Lines: 65

This addresses the "other electronic crimes" portion of the title.

Is it illegal to call someone else's answering machine and play
the messages using a remote playback beeper?

Consider these related points:

   Was the beeper just a universal sound generator, that would work
   on any of the same model answering machine?

   Were the sounds encoded, so that they had to be counterfeited
   to gain access?

   If they were encoded, how were they obtained?  Did the owner
   leave the device lying around so the sounds could be recorded?
   Were there a small number of combinations, such that they could
   all be tried?

Consider the common issues between computer cracking and the
above:

   Does connecting a device to the telephone network
   reduce its owner's rights to privacy?  Consider the
   discussions of breaking into a house vs. cracking a computer.
   Suppose that the entrance to the house were inside a
   shopping mall, among many other open doors.  Could it then
   be expected that people might try to enter uninvited?

   Are the issues of telephone messages and computer files
   the same?  Someone has connected a device to the telephone
   network to allow remote access.  Someone else obtains
   a key to get in, either by trial and error, or by finding
   it carelessly left around.  That person reads, and possibly
   erases, information on that device.

By nature, the telephone is a device which allows public entry
into the home.  Until recently, this was limited to voice.
If you answered, the caller had a right to ask questions.
You could choose to hang up at any time.  If the caller's identity
was misrepresented, you might have given information to
a stranger.  Is this theft? Fraud? Something else?  What if the
caller voice was recognized, but no identity was ever stated?
If you gave out information based on your faulty recognition
of a voice, was the caller guilty of anything?

How does this relate to telephone entry into electronic devices?
If you obtain a password, and use it to gain entry, is this
a misrepresentation of the caller's identity, or a failure
of the called machine to recognize a false entry?

I'm not trying to take any particular side here.  I'm just
presenting some points to ponder.  Mainly, what is the
relationship between a telephone connection and privacy?
I'm sure that if someone walked up to your machine and used
it without your permission (such as your car, computer,
answering machine), you would have no trouble seeing this
as wrong.  The same applies if someone walks into your house
and starts talking to you.  How does the telephone change all this?


	Scott Orshan
	Bell Communications Research
	201-981-3064
	{ihnp4,allegra,pyuxww}!u1100a!sdo