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

[lists at lazygranch.com]

You were doing good unitl you said you didn't know how to monitor cell 
phone calls. This is where things get dicey because lying to a federal 
agent is in itself a crime. [It's that obstruction of justice charge 
that nearly everyone gets when dealing with the feds.] The best thing to 
do is never to talk to the feds without a lawyer. [Now you can lie to 
the cops all day as long as you are not under oath.] The problem with 
the feds is you don't have to be under oath to get in trouble with, 
using Nixon-speak, inoperative statements.

Steve Douglass wrote:

>
> 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
>
>
>
>
>