----- Transcript of session follows ----- ... while talking to toad.com.:
RCPT To:<cyberpunks@toad.com> <<< 550 <cyberpunks@toad.com>... User unknown 550 <cyberpunks@toad.com>... User unknown
Talk about lame. I accidentally CC'd this to "cyberpunks". *sigh* [ More header snipped! ]
THE FIREWALL CHIP! U'RE PHONE ALWAYS OFFHOOK?
Fnorjd!
We have potential bugging devices in all our houses - The telephone! Of course, when it is onhook, the microphone does not transmit... or does it? Would the phone have to be rewired to render it always "offhook" or would it be an operation at the central phone company?
I believe there is a way to get regular analog phones to go "off hook" by sending the right kind of signal down the wire. Apparently not that reliable if you've got multiple extentions. I think some newer phone systems and/or newer phones don't work that well for the method, though I never tried it myself.
This problem demands a hardware solution. How about an adapter module between microphone & the rest of phone?
How about disconnecting the phone when uneeded? Or, filter the calls through an answering machine (which may also defeat such a method described above).
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The FIREWALL CHIP could have its applications software supplied by various companies which would specialize in fields for detecting electronic intrusion. Some specializing in phone audio, others in vision telephones, cell phone tracking, & many others to be considered.
The FIREWALL CHIP will be a future necessity. It & its software suppliers will probably constitute an outlaw industry.
I don't think it will be a necessity. I can think of several alternatives that don't require trusting an "outlaw industry".
Rob
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