UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday. December 10, 1992
13
Communication may lead to loss of privacy
continued from Page 12.
But someone cavesdropping on a conversation may be the least of a cordless user's worries.
With a little technical sophistication, a phone hacker can make long-distance calls on your phone bill. It can even happen by accident.
The base of a cordless telephone has a signal that allows it to transmit and receive calls. That signal is within the legal range of scanners and all radio-controlled products including walkie-talkies, remote-control toys, garage-door openers and other cordless phones, Wolfe said.
Because these phones share the same frequencies, anyone able to lock onto another telephone base's signal can make calls on that other phone line. he said.
The way to avoid this hazard is through a cordless telephone with an interlocking code, he said.
The interlocking code is a carrier signal between the base and the telephone that prevents another cordless base to enter into the wrong base and placing calls.
"In an apartment complex or dorm, when I pick up the phone I hear a dial tone," Wolfe explained. "You don't necessarily know that it's your line. If you don't have an interlocking code, a dial tone is a dial tone."
For people who fall prey to eavesdroppers and harassers, there is limited legal recourse.
A 1984 Kansas Supreme Court decision ruled that there was no reasonable expectation of privacy with a cordless telephone. The decision concerned a couple convicted of drug trafficking from tape cordless telephone conversations.
Because cordless telephones broadcast over open airwaves and can be picked up by any standard receiver—an AM/FM radio in this case, the taped conversations were ruled admissible evidence.
Mike Merriam, the Kansas Association of Broadcasters' Hotline attorney, said that law officials frequently used this method to listen in on drug transactions.
"When you talk on a cordless phone, you're broadcasting over the airwaves," he said. "If you have something confidential to say, you are best to say it on a secure line."
broadcasting sounds that would not ordinarily be audible without consent of those entitled to privacy.
Kansas law KSA-21-4001 defines eavesdropping as knowingly and without lawful authority, entering into a private place with the intent to listen secretly to private conversations or installing or using any device for hearing, recording, amplifying, or
Merriam however does think that intercepted messages are covered by law.
Merriam said that he interpreted this law to extend to the interception of messages of answering machines.
"It is certainly illegal to intercept someone's messages," he said. "It's an invasion of privacy if nothing else."
The drawback to this, of course, is that conviction of such an act would require a high burden of proof from the victim.
The best protection is knowledge. Most people are not aware of this lack of security of their phone lines — even those who might be expected to know.
While being interviewed about the dangers of intercepted messages, Mike McCaffrey, a Lawrence detective and former Lawrence police officer, said that he had messages on his answering machine from two pending divorce cases and messages from people who wanted him to follow their spouses. One caller had left personal information and the name of the person McCaffrey was to tail.
During the interview, the reporter broke the preset code of McCaffrey's recently purchased answering machine.
"That would be a real problem if someone were to pick up that message," he said.
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