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Title: Watch out, there's a BT man about ! Post by: mobaholic on March 20, 2010, 12:12:08 PM See:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8577125.stm Title: Re: Watch out, there's a BT man about ! Post by: petkow on March 20, 2010, 02:18:50 PM I read this yesterday, and had to laugh as it reminded me of crooked practices common in other parts of the world! (Even though his poor victims will likely not be laughing)
When I was growing up in India, we never had itemised phone bills, and this sort of activity happened all the time. Invariably telecom employees would look for lines that had a highish call volume, and clandestinely route a few more calls via that account. However, it was not only telecoms engineers. The thing that surprises me is just how easy it is to do! For all the sophisticated telecoms and security technology that we have these days, our analogue land line phones and the last few hundred meters of cabling coming into our houses is remarkably "low tech". Pretty much nothing has changed with that end of the business in the last half century! All you realistically have to do is electrically tap onto the lines, establish the circuit and you are on! Here in the UK it seems to be done by a dodgy guy who opens the box, and links his analog handset to the copper contacts. In other countries it is often done by dodgy guys who remove the insulation from the wires and twist out a contact point! The fact remains, that unlike mobile phones, on land lines there is no authentication required of the end user. Without a subscriber identifying himself on a Mobile network you get nowhere. On our low-tech land lines it seems you can get everywhere! Isn't it time our land-line devices have some sort of a SIM?? (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module) Title: Re: Watch out, there's a BT man about ! Post by: mobaholic on March 20, 2010, 02:27:44 PM A very good point petkow. Thank you. :) Your reply has turned by light hearted post into a quite thought provoking one ! :o Cheers ! 8) Title: Re: Watch out, there's a BT man about ! Post by: delaro on March 20, 2010, 08:20:28 PM I read this yesterday, and had to laugh as it reminded me of crooked practices common in other parts of the world! (Even though his poor victims will likely not be laughing) When I was growing up in India, we never had itemised phone bills, and this sort of activity happened all the time. Invariably telecom employees would look for lines that had a highish call volume, and clandestinely route a few more calls via that account. However, it was not only telecoms engineers. The thing that surprises me is just how easy it is to do! For all the sophisticated telecoms and security technology that we have these days, our analogue land line phones and the last few hundred meters of cabling coming into our houses is remarkably "low tech". Pretty much nothing has changed with that end of the business in the last half century! All you realistically have to do is electrically tap onto the lines, establish the circuit and you are on! Here in the UK it seems to be done by a dodgy guy who opens the box, and links his analog handset to the copper contacts. In other countries it is often done by dodgy guys who remove the insulation from the wires and twist out a contact point! The fact remains, that unlike mobile phones, on land lines there is no authentication required of the end user. Without a subscriber identifying himself on a Mobile network you get nowhere. On our low-tech land lines it seems you can get everywhere! Isn't it time our land-line devices have some sort of a SIM?? (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module) it may have not been as common as India, but it did happen in Poland on some occasions. Worse cases were brushed under the carpet. The good thing (one of many in this country) is that thanks to the transparency of the justice responsible institutions whole world can be informed so people can condemn, praise, laugh or whatever they want. I'd consider that one of the as the worst punishment. BTW: I was rotfl once I read this. I've got cables and screwdrivers myself ::) :D Code: He also admitted possessing apparatus to obtain electronic communication services namely wires, cables, crocodile clip and screwdrivers. |