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From: gutierre@oblio.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Gutierrez)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Portable Office Phones
Message-ID: <4744@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 5 Mar 90 06:04:24 GMT
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Reply-To: Robert Gutierrez <gutierre@oblio.arc.nasa.gov>
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 145, Message 3 of 6


john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) writes in V10, Iss. 133, Message 10 of 10:

> Leonard P Levine <len@csd4.csd.uwm.edu> writes:

> > ATT is currently marketing a portable office phone that connects with
> > their Merlin system.  Does anyone know if there are ANY security
> > features available with that phone?

> I'm so glad someone else opened this worm can. The only difference
> between the Merlin phone and their ordinary cordless is the signaling
> required to access the Merlin features and the displays to show
> status.  There is no "scrambling".
   [...]
> [Moderator's Note: Even though cordless phones are not treated as
> cellular phones where the prohibition against listening is concerned,
> under FCC regulations you still do not have the lawful right to repeat
> what you have heard,........

Exactly right. And for the casual listener, like me, that is crystal-clear.

But for the company spy, there are no such things as "FCC Regulations". 
With his white unmarked van, scanner, Diamond D-77 antenna, and VHS
HiFi portable VCR (with an 8 hour tape, using the HiFi tracks only)
parked near the comapny in question, it 'provides' a wealth of
information that he could not get otherwise. And in today's atmosphere
of "Wall Street" ethics, as long as he isn't caught........

I'm sure AT&T has no plans of trying to submit this add-on as a
contract proposal to any govt agency...as soon as they found out how
secure-less it is, they'd be laughed right out of the room (more like
kicked out). This is just outright dangerous.

As soon as any good company spy saw the AT&T commercial and the
antenna protruding from the phone, I'm sure they would have been
cheering AT&T for making their job sooooo much easier. No more having
to listen to 13 year old girls talking about their first
boyfriend....now they can get the inside scoop on the next merger The
Hot Comapny is going to make, and it's off to Drexel-Burnham to buy
the stock....(oops, they just went under, didn't they)

> [.......... Rules of
> the FCC pertaining to overhearing radio transmissions not intended for
> yourself still apply, including the part about not using what you have
> heard for your personal gain.  PT]

This is NOT a flame, personal or otherwise, but if the company spy
could have that line printed on toilet paper, we'd probably know what
he would do with it.


   Robert Gutierrez
   NASA Science Internet Network Operations.
   Moffett Feild, California.

   "I'm not a spy....but I play one on TV..."