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THOUGHTS OF CORDLESS PHONES
BY BOB KAY
From The Scanning Report
Monitoring Times Magazine
Reprinted By: John Johnson, KWV8BP
of The Hotline MBBS
Dear Cordless Phone Owner:
On a map of your town, draw a one mile radius circle around your home.
Did you know that anyone who lives within that circle and who owns a scanner
can listen to your phone calls? If you live in an urban area, there could be
hundreds of people listening to your every word. The fact is that the one
mile radius is rather conservative. Cordless phone signals have been moni
tored at distances greater than two miles.
To the average person, the idea of cordless signals traveling a distance of
two miles seems rather ridiculous. After all, the advertised operating range
of a cordless phone is approximately 1500 feet. And if you're a cordless
owner, you know from first hand experience that your phone won't work beyond
the limits of your back yard.
So how can someone with a scanner radio, living several miles away, monitor
your cordless phone? To answer that question you need to understand that the
cordless telephone is actually a two way radio. Most people are surprised to
learn that the cordless phone is nothing more than an FM walkie talkie that
flings you telephone conversations in all directions. If atmospheric condi
tions are favorable, cordless phone signals can travel for miles.
The scanner radio that we use has the unique ability to capture, receive,
and amplify a variey of weak signals. Its sensitivity to low power signals,
like the ones coming out of your cordless phone, is further enhanced by
the addition of an outside antenna. With the proper equipment, it's easy
to monitor an entire neighborhood of low power cordless phones.
Hobbyists who monitor the cordless bands quickly learn to match voices with
specific frequencies. Local cordless frequencies can be cataloged in the
same manner as regular phone numbers. For example: If a cordless phone is
monitored on 46.610 megahertz, that particular frequency and the name of the
person using it can be logged and retained in a cordless frequency book.
It then becomes as easy to "tap" into a neighbor's cordless phone as it is
to "punch up" his or her frequency on a scanner radio.
By now you're probably wondering if it's legal to monitor cordless phones.
The answer is yes. A few months ago, the Supreme Court ruled that users of
cordless phones have "No justifiable expectation of privacy." Shortly
thereafter, the Iowa Civil Liberties union stated that "Consumers are purch
asing cordless phones at the expense of their constitutional rights."
To protect yourself from uninvited eavesdroppers, it's necessary to throw
your cordless phone into the closet. You only need to realize that the
codless phone should be utilized as a convenience, and not as a tool. If
the phone rings when you're out in the garden, it's okay to answer that
call on a cordless phone. But don't discuss personal or financial matters.
Simply ask the calling party to hold until you can get to a wire connected
phone.
However, there's more to protecting your privacy than most people realize.
If you call your neghbor on a standard wire connected phone, and they answer
on a cordless phone, your right ot privacy doesn't exist. Why? Because your
neighbor's phone is broadcasting both sides of the conversation into the
air!
For total protection against uninvited listeners, use a standard wire
connected phone and don't forget to ask the second party to do the same.
In today's high tech society, it's the only guaranteed way of protecting
your telephone privacy....
Reprinted By: The Hotline MBBS 304-736-9169
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