gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (08/21/87)
[Since the Arpanet moderator seems to be dead, I have inserted my own
Approved: line here. I see no reason to stop talking in the right newsgroup
because a moderator is absent. In fact, a newsgroup ought to switch
automatically to unmoderated if no moderator posts anything for a few
weeks. -- John]
I found this in my phone bill (Pacific Bell, San Francisco):
"A WORD ABOUT PRIVACY
It is a crime under state and federal law to eavesdrop on telephone
conversations. Normally, you don't have to worry about the privacy of
conversations you have on telephones located in your home or business.
However, if you make calls using a cellular telephone or receive calls
from people who do, you need to be aware that your conversations on
THESE PHONES may not be entirely private.
Cellular telephones send calls over PUBLIC RADIO FREQUENCIES. While it
is true that calls on these frequencies may be scanned by other parties,
conversations made on a cellular network are very hard to intercept
because of this network's unique design, which assigns calls on a RANDOM
BASIS to any one of hundreds of radio channels. Also, as the mobile
unit moves, one radio channel may be changed to another one during a
single call, so that it is almost impossible to hear an entire
conversation.
Still, there is a chance that calls on cellular phones may not be
COMPLETELY PRIVATE. For this reason, the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) has asked that those placing calls on cellular
telephones advise the people they are calling about the privacy issue at
the beginning of each conversation. The CPUC also asked us to inform
you that there are "scrambling" devices for cellular phones. These are
available for purchase from many mobile phone companies and can help
assure your privacy."
--
{dasys1,ncoast,well,sun,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@postgres.berkeley.edu
My name's in the header where it belongs.