[FedCom] Re: Pop'Comm Columnists Phone Tapped??

[Steve Douglass]

Sorry this is not all in CAPS but.. for those of you who haven't read 
this short blurb in Pop Comm (that was written some time ago) here it 
is:


Crawford Revisited

I sure received a lot of e-mail missives concerning my story: Close 
Encounter of the Dubya Kind. Most were supportive, but one was 
obscene with the anonymous writer stating my article was tantamount 
to treason and possibly aiding terrorists. I responded that since we 
discovered a few potential holes in presidential security and 
published them in a national magazine, chances are those holes have 
been closed by the Secret Service.

Also it is interesting to note that friends say my phone sounds 
"funny" kind of "crackly" a condition that began shortly after 
publication. Could my phone be tapped by the Feds? Quiet possibly. It 
has happened before (another story for another time) but it could 
also be that the phone lines leading into my apartment are older than 
dirt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since then ..

Two weeks ago my phone just quit working. I called the phone company 
who sent out a truck and for two-days they re-wired the entire phone 
box at my apartment complex. I talked to the repairman and they said 
it was full of water (from recent rains) and that was the reason it 
was sounding so crackly. Quizzing my neighbors I soon found out they 
were having the same problems as I was. Like I said it was just 
probably fooky wiring.

I have a close friend who works at SBC and he tells me that if my 
phone was tapped by the Feds, you'd never know it. It doesn't crackle 
or hiss or anything. He should know, because he's been a telephone 
technician for Ma Bell for over twenty years.

He tells me that in the old days the Feds would bring in the court 
order and they could either tap the phone at the pole or at the phone 
company exchange the target phone line was located in. In those days 
they would physically have to attach listening and recording to the 
line, now days its all done by computer (remotely) with the agents 
never having to leave the office. Just a few keystrokes on Ma Bells 
computer and Voila.!. your phone is tapped.

The other incident I hinted about in the story took place ten years 
ago when someone in my city recorded the cell-phone conversation of a 
local Representative (having conversations with some bimbo he had met 
at a bar and trying to get her into bed by offering to take her along 
on junkets) and making tapes of said conversations and releasing them 
to the news media and the Representatives political opponent.

At the time I was writing for Monitoring Times and doing some 
communications consulting work for CBS News and the local media, 
which entailed purchasing and setting up scanner equipment for local 
and national news media, hunting down frequencies and the like.  The 
FBI quizzed the local media members and they asked if they knew of 
anyone who had the capability to intercept cell-phone 
communications.. and they all named yours truly.

Well one thing led to another and I became the main suspect in the 
taping. I was, followed, my neighbors and friends were interviewed, I 
was closely watched for several weeks , and  my phone was indeed 
tapped and not just by the Feds.

The Representative had hired his own private investigators to find 
out for himself (not patient enough to let the Feds do their work) to 
ascertain if I was indeed the culprit.

When the Federal investigation yielded no evidence that I had made 
the intercept and tape, the senior agent in charge of the 
investigation decided to just knock on my door and ask me. I let him 
in. We had a good talk about how it was done (either he was playing 
dumb or he had no clue about how one could intercept cell phone 
calls) the equipment involved .. etc. He then asked me if I had done 
it. I said "No."  We shook hands, he left and the surveillance 
continued. Years later when I ran into him at a local ball game we 
talked about the incident. He said after our interview he was sure I 
had made the tape but had no proof.

Two weeks later i was asked to come into the office of the Federal 
District  Attorney where I was again quizzed about how one went about 
monitoring cell phone conversations (back then it was easy, now its 
near impossible) and again they asked me (after reading me my rights 
and asking me if I wanted to contact a lawyer) if I had made the 
tape.  i waived my rights to a attorney and signed an affidavit 
stating that I had NOT made the tape.

This seemed to satisfy them because the surveillance seemed to stop.

Two weeks alter an old man admitted to the news media that he had 
made the tape (using his BC-800XLT) and was so disgusted with the 
Representative's conduct he had decided to make copies and send it to 
the news media and the Rep's opponent. He said he had no idea that it 
was illegal.

Needless to say I was vindicated. The Feds had their culprit, charged 
him with making an unlawful wiretap and he plead guilty and he was 
fined $2500.

In closing: It's very interesting to finally see some traffic on 
FECOM, even if it some of the conversations do smack of paranoia and 
the rantings  of conspiracy theorists.

-Steve Douglass
Utility Communications Digest Editor
Popular Communications Magazine





-- 
"I have spent the majority of my life listening to shortwave radios 
and scanners, but the rest of it I've wasted."