Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!netsys!vector!nobody From: davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Setup Message-ID: Date: 1 Feb 89 19:23:15 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 45 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 41, message 4 In article , boottrax@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Perry Victor Lea) writes: > > You mentioned that there are set guidlines to the frequenciest that > cellular phone services are allowed to use, however; when I had been > futzing with my police scanner I had been able to hear cellular phone Chances are you were hearing conversations being made with a CORDLESS phone, as opposed to cellular. The cordless phones use frequencies in the 40-50 MHz range, which most scanners cover. > conversations. I am familiar with the laws that allow anyone to be able > to listen to radio waves via radio sets. But why would they allow > phone conversations to be set in these bands where anyone with a police > scanner can eavesdrop? There was a court case which decided the issue of privacy of cordless phone conversations. These guys were arrested, having been overheard by police arranging a drug deal using a cordless phone. Their attorney argued that this constituted eavesdropping by the police, but the judge ruled that they should have known they could be overheard. Cordless phone conversations are not considered confidential. Since this case, there has been a bit more publicity and manufacturers' warnings about the lack of privacy when using cordless phones. When I lived in an apartment complex, I was setting up the frequencies for my scanner, and found someone talking on the phone once. (I don't recall the precise frequencies right now, but all you have to do is look in the descriptions of the cordless phones in the Radio Shack catalog.) Once in a while I would check to see if anybody was talking on the phone, but most of the time it was just teenagers chatting, until, inevitably one of them would say they were coming right over to the other's apartment. If they had done that first, they could have saved a phone call! In reality, most people's phone calls are pretty boring, so the novelty of listening in wears off quickly, and this is probably as effective as any regulation would be in keeping eavesdropping to a minimum. :^) Also, keep in mind that it hasn't been all that long since people had party lines, where eavesdropping is as simple as lifting the receiver. -- "FLYING ELEPHANTS DROP COW Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) PIES ON HORRIFIED CROWD!" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef