Phone taps

[39mto39g]

Your not going to get any proff to what Im going to tell you except that it doen't exist and never existed, I can't tell. I know some people in low places.
But
Ever sence the portable phone was made public and the masses started to Carry this big cigar box thing (I had one) around , ALL CELL PHONE CALLS ARE MONITORED. All long distance phone calls from your home are monitored, All pay phones in drug areas are monitored, all calls incomming to the US are monitored.
The form of monitoring may very from aoutomation picking out a KEY word and then switching to a recording device if Key word is said, like, BOMB, DRUG, KILL, PRESIDENT, etc.

The public debate over the patriot act and phone monitoring is funny to me.
Its getting harded and harder to live in a free society and our civil liberties are being threatened all the time, I have to think its for our good.

Ron

[rotorwash]

I think you are pretty much right, Ron. All cell phone calls have the potential to be monitored, but I don't think there is the human capability to constantly monitor all cell phone calls. However, we can go down town and buy a scanner that will monitor all cell phone calls made within our reception area.

The NSA has a huge complex in WVA that monitors all satellite calls as a matter of routine. They can also tap into a SigInt satellite (there are three) that can for short periods of time and in limited locations monitor calls around a small number of towers that are close to each other.

You are absolutely right that the monitors key on certain words. Because there aren't enough people to listen to each call, it is done by computers scanning the links in microsecond bursts looking for key words like the ones you listed. If a key word is spoken then the computer flags that call and copies it.

Where Bush is in trouble now is this: if a call coming in from a foreign national (and how this is determined, the genius Congressional folks who wrote the bill never said) calls an American citizen and uses any of the trigger words-lets say the conversation goes like this, ". . . bomb that will kill maybe five thousand at the Superbowl. . ." the computer logs that call. But. . . if the computer logs the part of the call spoken by the American citizen, the NSA is breaking the law, they need a search warrant. So if the American citizen's response to the call is, "That's cool. You deliver it to me Saturday at the Wal Mart parking lot at noon and I will plant it in the men's room on the south side of the stadium. Say hello to the wife and kids," the NSA can't monitor that part of the call without a search warrant. Make sense? Bush didn't think so, so he told them to monitor all parts of a flagged call. Oh, and by the way, Clinton didn't think so either.

Back in the days when calls crossed the Atlantic on underwater cables, all countries monitored their incoming calls-except us, we didn't have an organization to do it. The Zimmerman telegram in WWI is just such a story and is fascinating reading.

Do you really think all long distance calls are monitored? I don't know, and I guess I don't really care, my life is pretty much an open book and I don't plan on doing anything marginally legal.

I've really been trying to get ahead of this thing because I've caught students cheating on tests using cell phones.

Interesting subject. Do you know it is illegal for a business, say a restaurant or theatre to install a device that blocks cell phone calls? I found that out when I tried to get such a device for my classroom.

Take care,

Rotor

[39mto39g]

Monitor is a subjective term, In areas that need a human they will have a human, in areas that don't need a human they will have key words and recorders, All long distance calls that go to a satolite link are monitored. The ones that are "Land Line' so to speak are not exactly monitored, Fiber optics are a little different, Sprint got this tecnoligy given to them when the FCC broke up Bell.
FCC says that blocking a frequncy is against the law, Blocking cell phones block frequncies, You can buy these blockers on line, I have been thinking about getting one, There about $300.00 . Sure would be nice in a movie theater when some jerk is talking on his phone, Click, no more frequncy.
Trust in your government is not deserved and comes slowly.

Ron

[Jerry D]

I think a lot of Casinos in Vegas use some form of Cell Phone blocking tech. The last time I was there (Vegas) I had to walk around the Casino to find a hot spot that allowed my Phone to work and it was useually in a crossway between sections of the Hotel Casino. But Casinos have tons of Money to afford the protection from prosecution for useing a Cell Phone blocker a Theatre Chain couldn't afford the lawsuit. A Cell Phone blocker battery operated to use while watching a Movie would be great