jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) (09/15/90)
In article <12105@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >If the Annoyance Call Bureau there operates >like Illinois Bell's, they will put a trap on the line and try (no >guarentees) to capture the number of the calling phone. In Houston during the mid 80s, there was a strong rumor in the phreak community that SWBT regularly "dropped cards" on long-distance calls from certain apartment complexes (complexi? :-) as well as on local calls from certain "suspicious" numbers. "Dropping a card" was described as making a physical log (printing on a small card, thus the phrase) of the originating number, the number called, the time/date of the call and the length of the call. Is there anything (in Houston or elsewhere) that would substantiate this sort of rumor? Is this the equivalent of a trap? Just curious... J. Eric Townsend -- University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics (713) 749-2120 Internet: jet@uh.edu Bitnet: jet@UHOU Skate UNIX(r)
0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (09/17/90)
The thread has to do with "traps" to trace calls. In an earlier article was written: >>If the Annoyance Call Bureau there operates like Illinois Bell's, >>they will put a trap on the line and try (no >guarentees) to capture >>the number of the calling phone. In a response <Digest V10, Iss647> Eric writes: >In Houston ... there was a strong rumor ... that SWBT regularly >"dropped cards" on ... calls from certain "suspicious" numbers. >"Dropping a card" was described as making a physical log (printing on >a small card, thus the phrase) of the originating number, the number >called, the time/date of the call and the length of the call. He then asks: >Is there anything ... that would substantiate this sort of rumor? >Is this the equivalent of a trap? That IS the "trap", Eric. It is a part of the normal maintenance ability of a mechanical crossbar exchange. The crossbar machines, upnn having an alarm condition, print (present tense because a few are still in use) and punch a computer-readable "trouble ticket," with all the report input data. When the switching machine "drops a card," the Central Office repairman is supposed to pick it up, and get to work on "clearing the case," as time clocks start to measure their performance at keeping the machine going. On closure, the details are written on the card, for data entry by a keypunch clerk and report processing by a computer. Making it a "trap" to snag and report calls from specified numbers is a trivial modification that really is a stock feature on later machines and today's electronic exchanges, that simply perform the former mechanical automation by electronic means. Today's "trap" really still is functionally the same. Any Telco story about how "expensive" and "difficult" it is to do is merely a measure of the Telco's intransigence.