Re: Newt's phone calls
Michael Tighe SUN IMP <michael.tighe@Central.Sun.COM> wrote in article <5bjhda$f44@life.ai.mit.edu>...
Alan Bostick writes:
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.
Yes, a conference call (and we do know there were multiple participants) over a cordless makes sense.
It was a conference call but over a cellular phone. Martin had hacked his Radio Shack Scanner using a well known technique. He had a radio ham license. I still don't expect a conviction. Lets see a guy gets a tape he believes shows that the Speaker of the house lied to the ethics committee. He hands it to a senior member of the ethics committee of the house despite knowing that in doing so he put himself at risk of prosecution. Does anyone in their right mind expect any jury to convict in such a case? Basically a trial would be open season for the defense to take pot shots at Newt. Q. "Why did you not hand the tape over to the chair of the committee? A. I thought they might try to suppers it. Q. Why did you give the tape to MacDermott? A. I thought it showed that the Speaker had acted illegally. Q. Illegal? How? A [at very great length to be repeated verbatim on CNN twice an hour] As a first time offender the most the Martins could expect to suffer would be a $5000 fine. They could easily recoup that on the chat show circuit. This is the country where Ollie North launched his political career by subverting the constitution and lying to congress and where JO Simpson murdered his wife and got away with it. Don't expect the Martins to be occupying a jail cell any time soon. Newt on the other hand... Phill
On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, Phillip M. Hallam-Baker wrote:
It was a conference call but over a cellular phone. Martin had hacked his Radio Shack Scanner using a well known technique. He had a radio ham license.
Phill Actually I'd love to see this go to court & have the law itself tossed out. How many years have the airwaves been free? Now it is illegal to listen on the 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 Thu, 16 Jan 1997, Phillip M. Hallam-Baker wrote:
It was a conference call but over a cellular phone. Martin had hacked his Radio Shack Scanner using a well known technique. He had a radio ham license.
Actually I'd love to see this go to court & have the law itself tossed out. How many years have the airwaves been free? Now it is illegal to listen on the cellular frequencies.
They're not gonna toss the law out, since the law doesn't really deal with thought crimes, i.e., hearing something you're not supposed to hear. The law allows them to prosecute people who deliberately monitor to collect information which can be used against the people being monitored, or to take advantage of them (steal trade secrets, etc.). There's a presumption that the person about to be prosecuted has a collection of information somewhere (on paper, on disk....) that they otherwise could not possibly have gotten legally. I've listened to judges describe something similar, in person - the use of mailing lists by former employees, usually salespeople, where the names/addresses and other info on the list might be proprietary. Lawyers for scumbags love to sue over this one, since it's harder for a judge to declare bad faith or a frivolous suit against the plaintiff when the issue is unfair competition instigated by "theft" of a mailing list. The rule comes down to whether the info is generally available legally, or whether it absolutely had to have been gotten illegally.
participants (3)
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Dale Thorn -
Phillip M. Hallam-Baker -
Sarah L. Green