Anyone else wonder if their phone is tapped?

[babsbunny]

Well, almost everyday my Sister and I hear a click, that sounds like an extention is being picked up, then sometimes we actually hear it hang up. We always ask each other, "did you hear that"? When do you think Obama will have this stopped?

[stlsaxman]

1. you still have a land-line?

if you're paying AT$T for the service- of course it's tapped.

that's why i won't buy an iPhone.

Skype is encrypted point-to-point.

www.skype.com

[onehandle]

29. No electronic communication is safe from the NSA.

Using Skype = Authorizing NSA Spying???
http://blog.grain-of-salt.com/index.php?itemid=235

Only America's National Security Agency is thought to have the raw computing power required to unscramble Skype packets, and its intelligence-gathering efforts are far removed from day-to-day law enforcement and the collection of evidence for prosecutions.
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=10789393

[stlsaxman]

46. yeah it says it will hand over info when a warrant is presented...

<...> Please be informed that, notwithstanding the above mentioned, in the event of a designated competent authority requesting Skype or Skype's local partner responsible toward such authority, to retain and provide Personal and/or Traffic Data, or to install wiretapping equipment in order to intercept communications, Skype and/or its local partner will provide all necessary assistance and information to fulfill this request. <...>

oh well i guess they will allow wiretapping when a warrant is presented to them. waitaminute- that's legal, right?

Skype is covering it's assets... not warrantless wiretapping.

[grannie4peace]

2. me-i called & bitched enough

[polly7]

3. This may sound absolutely crazy ..

(which wouldn't be anything new!) but at the start of the Iraq war I and a few other very anti-war liberal types from down there were really giving it to the rah-rahers ..... for a long time. They brought up over and over the Secret Security number for someone to report us, and other numbers and people said they had. We did nothing wrong, just reported our opinions, called the Bush cabal war-mongers, etc. But for months every time I picked up my phone there was something different. Clicks and it just sounded different to me. The day it stopped, I knew something had either been wrong with my phone or ............. The kicker is, I'm in Canada??

eta: oops, that would be the Secret Service number, not Security number. dah ...

[EFerrari]

4. Mine was in 2004 when I was working with MoveOn.

And my mail was opened, too. Whatever. It was just a measure of intimidation and frankly, at the time my mother in law scared me more than Baby Bush.

[babsbunny]

6. Wow!

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I am almost certain someone was reading my email a couple years ago

[EFerrari]

17. All my packages where sliced open and taped shut again.

I buy on line and that year, had to buy a bunch of stuff for our new place. They all came pre-opened and taped shut again after I started helping MoveOn with their book. I asked the post office about it and they couldn't help me.

Stupid.

The tap on our phone didn't go away until just before the election. But, I used to be an "O" operator and this wasn't static on the line or anything I'd ever heard before. Like Lynn says, these are the stupidest motherfuckers on the planet and a fat lot of good it did them to listen to me plan the holidays with my mom. If they were trying to scare me, they failed bigtime.

[Warpy]

22. Same here back in the 60s

Back then, you could hear the clicks and pops. Now it's done electronically, so you're not going to hear anything.

We used to answer the phone "Hi, the phone's bugged."

The safest viewpoint for the last 8 years was to assume your phone is bugged, your email has all been read, anything you do online is followed closely, your spending habits monitored, and your mail scanned at least for return addresses.

Why has it been this way? Well, by gosh, all that stuff has been going on!

[EFerrari]

24. Beg to differ. Just because it can be done electronically doesn't mean

older tech isn't used sometimes.

I haven't assumed privacy for years, though. Agree completely on that score.

[Cetacea]

28. Digital isn't always clean. I hear more clicks now than when it was analog.

Digital does not tale kindly to changes in amplitude. When recording music, sudden spikes cause digital clipping which is down right painful to the ears. I don't know exactly what technology they are using, but I am sure it still leaves the occasional clue.

[mmonk]

43. My mail repeatedly as well.

Don't know about my land phone but I'm pretty sure my email is examined. I also kept getting weird technician calls that would give numbers on my cell phone but weren't talking to me from Verizon but Verizon wasn't my cell phone provider (so I figure it had to do with towers and transmitting).

[H2O Man]

5. In the 1960s

and '70s, if your phone was "tapped," you may very well have heard clicks, etc. But technology has changed, and that is no longer going to happen. But it doesn't mean that someone isn't listening.

[percussivemadness]

7. they can use a satellite to read your number plate

do you honestly believe they couldn`t listen to your phone call without a click being heard?

[RoccoR5955]

15. How can they read your plate, unless they flip your car on either bumper?

It's kind of hard to read the plate, on a horizontal plane, when the satellite is on a vertical plane. Perhaps if you put your plate on the roof or your car they could definitely read it, but as long as it stays on the front or back bumper, you are safe from the eye in the sky reading it.

[panader0]

8. Cell phone calls around here are at least monitered.

The air waves are accessable to the police.
Anything you say can and will be used in a court of law.

[nc4bo]

10. Every now and again I hear a series of 4 muted clicking sounds

while talking on my cell phone.

Carrier = Cingular = ATT

I've said some really heavy anti-gop/gwb shit on my cellie. Should I worry too?

[AlCzervik]

11. no but if someone actually did listen in they'd be bored to tears.

[Catshrink]

21. Mine, too.

I'm just not that interesting.

[Sal Minella]

36. Every once in awhile, I'll say, "Hi Agent Mike, sorry this is so boring."

I mean, I feel bad for the guy.

[RoccoR5955]

12. Mine's been tapped for at LEAST 25 years!

Back when I organized a group against the Shoreham Nuclear plant, and ever since then, I have checked from time to time, and for sure, it's been tapped. Not all the time, but from time to time, they have a tap on it.

[Cetacea]

25. I was at the big rally in '79. After 3 Mile Island.Thanks for your efforts.

:toast:

[corpseratemedia]

37. RoccoR5955 You are the kind of people the bush NSA really targeted

and the people connected to you or communicating with you

my families phone was tapped on two different occasions a few decades ago which was discovered through very blacked out (among lots of other things) FOIA files. The reasons why had nothing to do with political dissidence btw.

i don't think my phone was tapped but my electronic communications were data-mined and likely read on a daily basis for over a year (until that first ruling came down that the sweeping surveillance was illegal), probably based on the past and "connections" present combined with certain words used on one of the "blogs" i run - a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with politics - that's why mr. hayden looked embarrassed, and mr. tice looked like he knows how criminally audacious bushes domestic spying program was.

[endless october]

13. from what i understand, everyone's phone is monitored.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

and has been for some time.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12734870

the way i understand it, every phone call and email is scanned for keywords. the ones that trip keywords are more closely scrutinized.

why do you think they gave the phone companies amnesty?

[tkmorris]

20. ^^This is the correct answer^^

Everyone's line is monitored. Every single line in the USA. Primarily this is done via software, filtering for key words etc, but it is done to everyone.

[EFerrari]

27. Almost. My understanding is that the data is collected.

That's not exactly the same as having a human being monitoring, though. In other words, people still have to go back and sift through the data.

That's not what happened to us. And, to tell you the truth, when that was going on here all I could think was how dumb and expensive whatever the "mission" was that listened to us and peace grannies and vegans and Quakers but not bin Laden. :)

[stray cat]

14. I'm not that important - so I really doubt it

[IDemo]

16. It's unlikely you're going to hear anything such as clicks to signify a tap

The technology has grown much better with digital switching. If you are hearing clicks or other noise, it's more
likely there is moisture in a cable or another electrical fault.

[EFerrari]

19. There are different kinds of taps, though, right?

The kind of stuff the ATT whistleblower was talking about was splitting digital signals. isn't that right? You can split it and copy it. What happened to me was the old school kind, where there was noise and it wasn't static. It sounds mechanical not electrical at all. It doesn't sound like static on the P/L at all.

[IDemo]

41. If it was decades ago, then there may have still been a mechanical switch

I'm talking about the telephone switching equipment in the central office, that is. Virtually all switches have been replaced by digital technology, although there could be one or two very remote small towns still awaiting an upgrade, but I doubt it. If there was an amateur: a stalker, or a neighbor stealing your dialtone (yes, people do that), then they could have spliced directly into your service drop or even plugged in a handset or extension cord at the network interface device (pictured). In that case, you would probably hear clicks or other obvious background noise.

I was a telco maintenance administrator years ago. There are many reasons for hearing clicks or other noises. Squirrels love the taste of telephone cable insulation and are a major source of repair calls. Mice inside house walls are the same way. Improperly spliced cable cuts can also allow water on the line which can cause grounds or shorts. As well, crosstalk and noise from adjacent lines in a cable or cross connect box are common.

[L0oniX]

18. No Verizon land line or cell here ...Vonage only n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

34. easier to record there than analog...well, as easy anyway

trust me...i do it thousands of times a day...

sP

[Belial]

23. Sigh.. you wont hear a thing..

Most of the monitoring that is done is through computers running a type of voice software rarely if ever is a "person" sitting there actually listening to your call.. BTW.. Skype has been hacked.. a few different ways.. the only way to have a secure conversation is face to face.

[Cetacea]

31. That's not entirely true.

If digital is so supremely quiet then why do people complain so much more about clicks and other audio problems than they did when it was all analog?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

33. you will not hear a thing if you are being recorded/monitored

i know...i work for a company that makes such software/hardware...

sP

[EFerrari]

39. If the tech you work with is being used. n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. the stuff we make is used on many levels...

and if some piddly call center can implement it, i am sure the gov't can too...the thing is, no one really cares to listen in...most people are not being monitored...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. I was investigated by the FBI

It's a long story and it isn't all that interesting. But I got caught up in some bullshit at my job and found myself investigated by the FBI. Met with an agent and was questioned several times. It was really creepy. It all ended okay, I wasn't ever really in trouble and wasn't accused of a crime.

Anyway, the first time I met with the FBI guy, he gave me a paper to sign that said I understood I was being investigated and my phones could be tapped, my mail could be opened and my relatives and neighbors might be questioned. And they did sit across from my house and watch me a couple times. So I figured they most likely did tap my phone.

[EFerrari]

30. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

If you call the FBI office here in town, you'd swear you just woke someone up from his first good sleep in a year, that's how alert they sound. It's sort of embarrassing, to tell you the truth. You just want to say, "Sorry, man. I didn't know you were asleep!"

lol

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. It was a long time ago but it was a PITA at the time

And the lawyer charged an arm and a leg. But he ended up becoming a friend - which was interesting. Neat guy. Hard core repuke but we got along pretty well until he moved away about 5 years ago.

We were talking about gays one time and he of course thought they chose to be gay. I said I am not going to argue that with you but I have one question - what would you do if your son told you tomorrow he is gay?

He gave me the strangest look and said he had honestly never thought of that before. And he brought that up several times after that, that I had really made him stop and think because of the way I framed the issue.

Neat guy. We had such great conversations. And he saved me from the FBI. LOL

[Contrary1]

32. Not so much the last few months...

But for about three years, I believe calls from my friend in Australia were being listened in on. Both of us would hear odd clicks that never happened before.

It got to the point that every time we felt we were being monitored, we would start talking, in colorful terms, about the cluster fuck in the White House. And we would throw in a few Osamas, Mohammads, and Jihads, just to make sure they earned their money.

Ah...the good old days.

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. My sister called me from England one time and asked if I thought the conversation was being taped

and she started talking about "that big heroin deal". Said she would be bringing in a large shipment when she came home.

Of course we were laughing so hard I doubt Agent Mile believed us. LOL

[corpseratemedia]

42. if only as many people as possible could have done a "heroin phone bomb" a couple years ago!

"yeah we're waiting for your big shipment from that target name country, Ozmama"

[sentelle]

44. I know my phone is bugged.

My wife, while not muslim, comes from a muslim country. She phones home at least weekly. Usually via VOIP.

I now call everyone 'jack'. I pick up the phone and say 'hi, Jack'.

[Midlodemocrat]

45. LOL. Oh, my, You're serious. Sorry.

:rofl:

I had my wires crossed in CT many years ago. I heard conversations from neighbors who were talking to Peru. I'm pretty sure my line wasn't tapped, that it was less than adequate technology.

But, still. :rofl: