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Phone Weirdness

I remember the kids in my local area had a phone number we could use for free in a phone booths. It was an automatic answering machine which said something in "foreign". I don't think any of us knew what language it was.
 
we are still getting lots of extraneous noises and other people's voices. So... now, by an expensive process of elimination, I have established that the problem is at my Mum's end, and whoever's hacking her phone isn't doing it over radio waves. It's the landline itself that is being hacked. :(
Hmm. Sounds more like crosstalk. Hacked is not the right word. Just ask BT to do a line test (=free)
 
London telephone oddity?

Any posters in East London experience anything odd with 'phones today? Have just been speaking to a friend who has spent all morning trying to contact me about an urgent matter. She was unable to until now because she had no signal on her mobile (even if she went outside) and the landline was dead. I have had no problems in central London.

Similar things happened on 7 July allegedly because of overload on the networks but possibly because the police turned the networks off.

Wonder if there was a drill/test somewhere?
nothing unusual, just the demon Anthony Crowley causing trouble to up the sin quotient (lots of anger, frustration, et c)
 
Hmm. Sounds more like crosstalk. Hacked is not the right word. Just ask BT to do a line test (=free)
I agree. Why would hackers want to alert anyone to their presence by making weird noise? Sounds more like interference on the line so you're getting bits of other people's conversations.
 
I agree. Why would hackers want to alert anyone to their presence by making weird noise? Sounds more like interference on the line so you're getting bits of other people's conversations.
Quite right, if any of us were being monitored by the security services we would not know about it
 
I agree. Why would hackers want to alert anyone to their presence by making weird noise? Sounds more like interference on the line so you're getting bits of other people's conversations.
Phone-hacking has a long and dishonourable history.

Early telephone surveillance was primitive enough for the former Labour MP, now Dame Joan Ruddock, to hear her last conversation played back by lifting the receiver and tapping the phone cradle. I've mentioned this before.

In 2015 MPs held an emergency debate on the legality of the Wilson Doctrine which forbade the bugging of Members of Parliament by the intelligence services.

Safe BBC New article -
MPs 'monitored by Scotland Yard during 1990s'

A former undercover police officer has told BBC News that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s.
Ex-Special Branch officer Peter Francis says he saw files on 10 Labour MPs which he and others regularly updated.
He says he personally gathered information on three MPs as part of his work infiltrating left-wing groups.
The MPs named, and Labour, have called for a forthcoming public inquiry into undercover policing to be widened.
 
Phone-hacking has a long and dishonourable history.

Early telephone surveillance was primitive enough for the former Labour MP, now Dame Joan Ruddock, to hear her last conversation played back by lifting the receiver and tapping the phone cradle. I've mentioned this before.

In 2015 MPs held an emergency debate on the legality of the Wilson Doctrine which forbade the bugging of Members of Parliament by the intelligence services.

Safe BBC New article -
MPs 'monitored by Scotland Yard during 1990s'
Quite right, but I suspect that this case is just plain interference.
 
my father in law got a telescope. We went off to a dark sky area to try it out that happened to be near Fylingdales on the Yorkshire moors. Perfectly legal layby but late night on the moors we are the only ones there. Joked with mother in law that they were probably reading her txt messages right now. She said "they know we are here?" Oh yes I said, they knew the minute we pulled up. She thought I was pulling her leg. 5 minutes later MOD police show up to say a cheery hello and make sure we were not russians looking for the local cathedral. :D
 
I agree. Why would hackers want to alert anyone to their presence by making weird noise? Sounds more like interference on the line so you're getting bits of other people's conversations.
My old dear is convinced that They read her mail, listen to her phone convos, monitor her use of taxis etc.
This is a hangover from the war when people were encouraged to believe everything they did was scrutinised to keep them in line.
Her reliance on the Mail and Express for information and life skills hasn't helped.

So my brother told her it was illegal to swear on the phone and that people doing it would be cut off. He proceeded to demonstrate by dropping the odd F-bomb and quickly hanging up.

He'd reinforce this by tapping on the handset and saying 'Can you hear the clicks? They're listening!' and hanging up.

Poor Mother would plead with Bro to remember not to swear in case he drew Their attention. :chuckle:
 
In the UK (and I suspect the rest of the world) the security services are constantly listening, the software picks up keywords

I was told that all this about encryption being impossible to break was a nonsense, they have the key to all the major systems, they just say that to lull the unsuspecting, it was one of the reasons EncroChat was set up the criminals knew that popular communication apps had been compromised ages ago
 
my father in law got a telescope. We went off to a dark sky area to try it out that happened to be near Fylingdales on the Yorkshire moors. Perfectly legal layby but late night on the moors we are the only ones there. Joked with mother in law that they were probably reading her txt messages right now. She said "they know we are here?" Oh yes I said, they knew the minute we pulled up. She thought I was pulling her leg. 5 minutes later MOD police show up to say a cheery hello and make sure we were not russians looking for the local cathedral. :D
That's your story and you're sticking to it, eh? Bet you found that cathedral though.
:thought:
 
My old dear is convinced that They read her mail, listen to her phone convos, monitor her use of taxis etc.
This is a hangover from the war when people were encouraged to believe everything they did was scrutinised to keep them in line.
Her reliance on the Mail and Express for information and life skills hasn't helped.

So my brother told her it was illegal to swear on the phone and that people doing it would be cut off. He proceeded to demonstrate by dropping the odd F-bomb and quickly hanging up.

He'd reinforce this by tapping on the handset and saying 'Can you hear the clicks? They're listening!' and hanging up.

Poor Mother would plead with Bro to remember not to swear in case he drew Their attention. :chuckle:
But THEY probably DO do all of that, so they can show you relevant ads. It's really not paranoia, it's fact. The authorities can also tell exactly where you've been at any given time thanks to the phone we all carry. I guess they'd need a warrant to get the info from all the app providers, but then again, THEY probably have a way round that! I heard them talking about it on The Prosecutors podcast, when they were talking about a guy who disappeared. The idea was that if authorities could get info from the app companies they could narrow down who, if anyone, had been in the area (it was a remote, quiet area) around the time the guy disappeared, they would have a suspect. But a judge wouldn't give them a warrant or whatever was required - as we know, however, THAT would not stop certain agencies if they really wanted the information...
 
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When I told a friend that there are systems that (allegedly) start recording your conversation if you said certain crime oriented keywords or mentioned certain government agencies, he developed the habit of saying "FBI" loudly in every phone call - if for no other reason, to fill the recording library with dull conversations about nice restaurants and what was on TV last night.
 
When I told a friend that there are systems that (allegedly) start recording your conversation if you said certain crime oriented keywords or mentioned certain government agencies, he developed the habit of saying "FBI" loudly in every phone call - if for no other reason, to fill the recording library with dull conversations about nice restaurants and what was on TV last night.
Saying things like ''the red fox dances at dawn'' when talking to my mate on the phone passes the time. 'Mossad' is always a good one to sneak in somewhere as well.
 
But THEY probably DO do all of that, so they can show you relevant ads. It's really not paranoia, it's fact. The authorities can also tell exactly where you've been at any given time thanks to the phone we all carry. I guess they'd need a warrant to get the info from all the app providers, but then again, THEY probably have a way round that! I heard them talking about it on The Prosecutors podcast, when they were talking about a guy who disappeared. The idea was that if authorities could get info from the app companies they could narrow down who, if anyone, had been in the area (it was a remote, quiet area) around the time the guy disappeared, they would have a suspect. But a judge wouldn't give them a warrant or whatever was required - as we know, however, THAT would not stop certain agencies if they really wanted the information...
The old dear was saying this years ago, long before most people were even on the phone. There was no technology back then available to routinely surveil and track the entire population. Mother was still falling for wartime propaganda.

Widespread surveillance certainly did go on but nobody was interested in my mum.
 
my father in law got a telescope. We went off to a dark sky area to try it out that happened to be near Fylingdales on the Yorkshire moors. Perfectly legal layby but late night on the moors we are the only ones there. Joked with mother in law that they were probably reading her txt messages right now. She said "they know we are here?" Oh yes I said, they knew the minute we pulled up. She thought I was pulling her leg. 5 minutes later MOD police show up to say a cheery hello and make sure we were not russians looking for the local cathedral. :D
Yup, when there was a big armaments factory near'ere you couldn't take photos from anywhere in sight of it, which included a main road a mile away.
I did a degree at a nearby college in the early '80s at the height of Cold War paranoia. Some art students doing a rural photoshoot were badly rattled when the police rolled up and took a strong interest in their choice of venue.
The students hadn't even known what the barely-visible chimney on the distant horizon belonged to. Steep learning curve, there. :chuckle:
 
But THEY probably DO do all of that, so they can show you relevant ads. It's really not paranoia, it's fact. The authorities can also tell exactly where you've been at any given time thanks to the phone we all carry. I guess they'd need a warrant to get the info from all the app providers, but then again, THEY probably have a way round that! I heard them talking about it on The Prosecutors podcast, when they were talking about a guy who disappeared. The idea was that if authorities could get info from the app companies they could narrow down who, if anyone, had been in the area (it was a remote, quiet area) around the time the guy disappeared, they would have a suspect. But a judge wouldn't give them a warrant or whatever was required - as we know, however, THAT would not stop certain agencies if they really wanted the information...
Not everyone who has a phone, takes it everywhere. My kids are constantly moaning at me when they try to ring me and I don't answer because I've gone out and left my phone at home, if I have no need of it while I'm out.

But, on the other hand, I always take it when I go running, in case of an accident and needing to know EXACTLY where I am, to summon help. Swings and roundabouts.
 
Yup, when there was a big armaments factory near'ere you couldn't take photos from anywhere in sight of it, which included a main road a mile away.
Theoretically, in the US you are legally allowed to photograph anything you can see from a public place (so long as you aren't being a nuisance, invading some degree of privacy at medical facilities, or otherwise breaking the law). But right after 9/11, various agencies started making rules that you couldn't photograph toll booths, train stations, etc. A student visiting my campus from out of state took a few snaps of the long lines at a New York toll booth and was forced to delete them by police.

I don't understand why such illegal "laws" were instituted and enforced, especially when the visible layout of these areas are already well known.

:botp:
 
The old dear was saying this years ago, long before most people were even on the phone. There was no technology back then available to routinely surveil and track the entire population. Mother was still falling for wartime propaganda.

Widespread surveillance certainly did go on but nobody was interested in my mum.
A lot of people use their phone nowadays to buy stuff as well. I suppose they've always been able to find out what you purchase through your credit/debit cards if they wanted to, but it's probably even easier for them now.
They know that every week Trevp buys 100 XXX large condoms. But who are they for I wonder?
 
Theoretically, in the US you are legally allowed to photograph anything you can see from a public place (so long as you aren't being a nuisance, invading some degree of privacy at medical facilities, or otherwise breaking the law). But right after 9/11, various agencies started making rules that you couldn't photograph toll booths, train stations, etc. A student visiting my campus from out of state took a few snaps of the long lines at a New York toll booth and was forced to delete them by police.

I don't understand why such illegal "laws" were instituted and enforced, especially when the visible layout of these areas are already well known.

:botp:
People became generally more paranoid after 9/11. Telling people off for taking photos gives the impression that the authorities are doing their job.
 
Here's a nice BBC R4 programme about 'phone phreaks' in the series The Hackers.
I heard it. Highly enjoyable.

Episode 1: Phreaks

Biella explores the earliest hacking subculture - The Phone Phreaks - an entire subculture that learned to manipulate the phone system with plastic whistles and tone generating blue boxes, and played a part in birthing the modern digital world.

She talks with Phil Lapsley, author of ‘Exploding the Phone’ and a UK hacker who was one of the last generation of traditional phone phreaks about the joy and the risks of the earliest type of hacking.
 
A lot of people use their phone nowadays to buy stuff as well. I suppose they've always been able to find out what you purchase through your credit/debit cards if they wanted to, but it's probably even easier for them now.
They know that every week Trevp buys 100 XXX large condoms. But who are they for I wonder?
I suspect that scammers and advertisers are more interested in what's on the general publics phones and conversations than governments are. You'll remember that a UK supermarket chain decided, a few years ago, to collect information on what their individual customers actually purchased on their credit cards. They soon admitted that there was too much info to handle and nothing really they could do with it.
 
I suspect that scammers and advertisers are more interested in what's on the general publics phones and conversations than governments are. You'll remember that a UK supermarket chain decided, a few years ago, to collect information on what their individual customers actually purchased on their credit cards. They soon admitted that there was too much info to handle and nothing really they could do with it.
Supermarket loyalty cards are used for that.
 
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