Well, well! The old phone systems. disconnected the transmitter (carbon mouth piece) element from the phone line, by direct open contact. If you dispute this get an old phone and check it out. In the older systems it was not possible without modification.
I was the principal in NSI (search for that) that did covert electronics in the Pacific Northwest. We did sweeps and installs, we were the first with laser window monitoring and tracking by vehicle mounted xmitter. Really I do know what I'm talking about. -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 2:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Vo]: Is Big brother watching? Stiffler Scientific wrote: >1) Prior to ESS phone systems, the old relay banks did not work well for >covert monitoring. It did require intervention from the phone company that >controlled the switches. It was possible to bridge a line and have it >monitored via another line, yet the best method was to connect to the >physical line and monitor or record it from the pole or a hidden battery >operated system close to the location. I believe you are talking about tapping phone conversations. David Thompson claimed that the NSA could listen to conversations in the room when the phone was on-hook, which is what the Russians used to do: "That is because the circuits have a feature that allows the NSA to dial your number and hear everything going on near your telephone, even without making it ring or be lifted off the receiver." To tap a phone call, there was never any need to add equipment to the telephone sets, or go into the target house or office. As noted, this is done from the central office or nearby equipment. On the other hand you would have to modify the set to record sounds from the room when the phone is on-hook. The Russians used the phone set or some other equipment attached to the phone line. Even in 1945 they used radios. After V.E. day they presented the U.S. Ambassador with a large "Victory Eagle" sculpture which he proudly displayed in his office. One day the U.S. technicians had a look at it and found a radio transmitter bug inside it. It was hard to hide bugs in those days. Back then, the U.S. government was an amateur in the spy game, compared to the Russians and the British. I gather it still is. - Jed
