dmt@ptsfa.UUCP.UUCP (05/15/87)
The following is from an editorial by Wayne Green in the June, 1987 issue
of 73 Amateur Radio magazine:
CONGRESS GOOFS
The recent legislation making cellular phone calls illegal to listen in on
has provided a bonanza for both organized and disorganized crime. It's
difficult not to laugh over the situation the cellular industry has gotten
itself into in its blind pursuit of the fast buck.
What's happened is a mass move into cellular by criminals. They buy a
cellular system, have an unscrupulous dealer alter the electronic serial
number (ESN) on the built-in programmable IC, which makes calls both
untraceable and free--a great combo. They tool around town, making calls
to Pakistan, Columbia, and their Caribbean drug warehouses at will.
Cellular has turned out to be great for coordinating every kind of criminal
activity. It's just what criminals have been needing for years-- a
dependable, free, untraceable, and safe communications system. With a
combination of pagers and cellular phones, crooks are making a shambles
of the cellular system--all protected by Congress.
If you wanted to deal in drugs, how better to get orders from your
customers than by giving them your cellular phone number? There's no way
to tap a telephone that can be anywhere in a big city, operating through
different cells as it moves around. And with an altered ESN it's all free!
If it weren't against the law to listen to cellular channels, I'd suggest we
hams help the law by listening for suspicious cellular calls and recording
them. Say, how'd you like to get the goods on some serious crooks and find
(a) the evidence is inadmissible because it was illegally attained and (b)
yourself on trial for making the recordings. So join me in a big laugh, okay?
--
Dave Turner 415/542-1299 {ihnp4,lll-crg,qantel,pyramid}!ptsfa!dmt