leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP (10/18/83)
#R:ihuxq:-35000:uiuccsb:3200011:000:1423 uiuccsb!leimkuhl Oct 17 12:06:00 1983 There are both state and federal laws regarding wiretaps. The federal law requires that for a tap, at least one of the parties involved must give written consent. The only state law which is appreciably different is California's which requires consent of both parties. Conceivably this means that for people living outside of California, a tap could be placed on the line provided the installation one is dialing gives consent. However, it may not be neccesary to "tap" the line, per se, to determine how it is being used. Perhaps a device which determines only whether voice or data is being sent would not technically constitute a recording of the conversation. Another possibility is that the phone company could determine the way a line is being used by knowing that one of the terminal connections is a non-voice line--whether it constitutes physical evidence of modem use to have had a conversation with a Bell 103 compatible line is not at all obvious, though. Probably the most likely eventuality is that as modem use becomes more and more common, Bell will simply put everyone on a metered service rate schedule, which appears to be the present trend anyway (metered service is now offered as an option in many locations around the country). If phone line usage becomes expensive enough, it's going to make those 1200 and 2400 baud modems look a lot cheaper. Ben Leimkuhler (uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhl)