Re: Newt's phone calls
At 02:48 PM 1/14/97 -0800, you wrote:
It is also possible that somewhere in the chain of information between mom&pop, the media, and us, the distinction between "cordless phone" and cellular phone. I gather it was a conference call that was intercepted. All it takes is one participant using a cordless phone in range of one scanner, and the whole conversation is compromised.
The congressman (Boehner? from Ohio) whose cellphone was "eavesdropped" stated today that he was parked in the lot of a Waffle House in Lake City FL. The couple said that they just happened to be driving by when they overheard and began taping the conversation. I have a problem with making it illegal to listen to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Seems sort of unnatural. Maybe they will decide that people who can see the color green will go to jail next ;-) Technological solutions are much more elegant. Of course, they are not nearly as sexy as legal remedies (I can't wait to see if the congressman who gave it to the Times is indicted!) Clay ******************************************************* Clay Olbon olbon@ix.netcom.com sys-admin, engineer, programmer, statistitian, etc. **********************************************tanstaafl
On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, Clay Olbon II wrote:
The congressman (Boehner? from Ohio) whose cellphone was "eavesdropped"
A woman on the radio ABC news this morning said, "Congressman...BONER?...Bahner is reportidly..." My guess is that someone spelt it incorrectly on her sheet. ;)
I have a problem with making it illegal to listen to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Seems sort of unnatural. Maybe they will decide that people who can see the color green will go to jail next ;-) Technological solutions are much more elegant. Of course, they are not nearly as sexy as legal remedies (I can't wait to see if the congressman who gave it to the Times is indicted!)
Seems like a good issue to site when trying to push remailers, eh? :)
Clay Olbon II writes:
The congressman (Boehner? from Ohio) whose cellphone was "eavesdropped" stated today that he was parked in the lot of a Waffle House in Lake City FL. The couple said that they just happened to be driving by when they overheard and began taping the conversation.
Interesting. In California, operating a scanner while driving is illegal. Of course it was probably the passenger running the scanner. I've always wanted to scan cell-phone callers while driving next to them on 101. Even in Silicon Valley it'd be pretty wierd to have a sinister looking guy in the car next to you pointing a black box with an antenna at you...
I have a problem with making it illegal to listen to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Seems sort of unnatural.
I think that blowing your mouth off about what you've heard by scanning cellular traffic is what's illegal. Or more illegal than merely listening anyhow.
Maybe they will decide that people who can see the color green will go to jail next ;-) Technological solutions are much more elegant. Of course, they are not nearly as sexy as legal remedies (I can't wait to see if the congressman who gave it to the Times is indicted!)
Given that they've just pissed on some seriously powerful people I'd expect that the fools who made the tape and gave it to the Democratic congresscritter and then HAD A NEWS CONFERENCE about it are going to be in some deep shit. -- Eric Murray ericm@lne.com ericm@motorcycle.com http://www.lne.com/ericm PGP keyid:E03F65E5 fingerprint:50 B0 A2 4C 7D 86 FC 03 92 E8 AC E6 7E 27 29 AF
Eric Murray wrote:
Given that they've just pissed on some seriously powerful people I'd expect that the fools who made the tape and gave it to the Democratic congresscritter and then HAD A NEWS CONFERENCE about it are going to be in some deep shit.
Undoubtedly, they will be in much deeper shit than the criminal who broke the laws he was sworn to uphold. Power Rules! (Is this redundant?)
On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, Eric Murray wrote:
Clay Olbon II writes:
The congressman (Boehner? from Ohio) whose cellphone was "eavesdropped" stated today that he was parked in the lot of a Waffle House in Lake City FL. The couple said that they just happened to be driving by when they overheard and began taping the conversation.
Interesting. In California, operating a scanner while driving is illegal. Of course it was probably the passenger running the scanner.
Actually in Florida its illegal to even have a scanner in your car! These folks have broken several state and federal laws, as well as the congressman who leaked it to the newspapers instead of turning it over to the head of the Ethics committe as he should have. Everyone involved here is, or should be, in deep yogurt. I don't like the laws they passed, but since they passed them I want to see them enforce them to the full extent posible. Then maybe people will start to wonder why the transmission wasn't encrypted. Which also leads to another question. How much information is in the clear from congressmen and government employees who are clueless about the security of their cellphones, cordless phones, etc? Brian ---- www.eskimo.com/~nexus Nexus Computing ftp.eskimo.com/~nexus
Brian Lane wrote:
I don't like the laws they passed, but since they passed them I want to see them enforce them to the full extent posible. Then maybe people will start to wonder why the transmission wasn't encrypted. Which also leads to another question. How much information is in the clear from congressmen and government employees who are clueless about the security of their cellphones, cordless phones, etc?
The fact is that the transmission 'was' encrypted. While this fact isn't being 'reported', it is causing no small amount of consternation in certain circles in Washington.
Eric Murray wrote:
Clay Olbon II writes:
Interesting. In California, operating a scanner while driving is illegal. Of course it was probably the passenger running the scanner. I've always wanted to scan cell-phone callers while driving next to them on 101. Even in Silicon Valley it'd be pretty wierd to have a sinister looking guy in the car next to you pointing a black box with an antenna at you...
My scanner looks like a cellular phone, hence, nobody has ever gotten suspicious.
At 7:07 PM -0800 1/14/97, Eric Murray wrote:
Clay Olbon II writes:
I have a problem with making it illegal to listen to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Seems sort of unnatural.
I think that blowing your mouth off about what you've heard by scanning cellular traffic is what's illegal. Or more illegal than merely listening anyhow.
The 1935 communication act made it illegal to pass on what you had heard when listening to certain radio services. Listening was OK. Telling others wasn't. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Client in California, POP3 | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | in Pittsburgh, Packets in | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | Pakistan. - me | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
On Wed, 15 Jan 1997, Bill Frantz wrote:
At 7:07 PM -0800 1/14/97, Eric Murray wrote:
The 1935 communication act made it illegal to pass on what you had heard when listening to certain radio services. Listening was OK. Telling others wasn't.
A more recent act made it illegal to monitor celular frequencies, and to make equipement that receives or could easily be modified to receive cellular frequencies. Sarah. ============================================================================== Sarah L. Green Hey, I never claimed to be >>osprey<< Madison, AL (USA) a genius nor a typist greens@hiwaay.net ==============================================================================
Sarah L. Green wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jan 1997, Bill Frantz wrote:
At 7:07 PM -0800 1/14/97, Eric Murray wrote: The 1935 communication act made it illegal to pass on what you had heard when listening to certain radio services. Listening was OK. Telling others wasn't.
A more recent act made it illegal to monitor celular frequencies, and to make equipement that receives or could easily be modified to receive cellular frequencies.
Scanner manufacturers have been getting around a lot of this by putting ever more of the scanner's intelligence on EEPROM or flash chips, and providing a computer interface to the scanner. Software to do the rest can be gotten thru the web, or thru addresses in 2600 or 411 magazine. I'm getting anxious to get a new scanner that can follow the cellular hopping, ditto for police using the new trunked systems that also hop frequencies, ditto for decoding digital, and for decoding other common scrambling like the crap that Motorola puts out.
participants (8)
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AIDAS -
Bill Frantz -
Brian Lane -
Clay Olbon II -
Dale Thorn -
Eric Murray -
Sarah L. Green -
Toto