[HaBi 1]    THE PRIVATE EAR

THE PRIVATE EAR It has recently come to our attention that a new device for invading your privacy is on the market. Called the Telecommand, this device is only an extension of what was formerly available to law enforcement officers. The Telecommand attaches to your phone Internally, and whenever they want to bug your pad, they just call up and send a tone into their phone before they dial the last digit of your number. This automatically picks up your phone before it rings. Now your phone, which looks like its just sitting there hung up, is really live and listening to everything going on within earshot. When he's heard enough, he simply hangs up and your phone is back to normal. Recently, Screw magazine revealed that Nassau County D.A. Cahn had purchased several thousands of dollars worth of surveillance equiptment, including the telecommand. And this will probably be followed by police departnents all over the country. I don't think I have to explain in detail just how fucked up it is for a D.A. to eavesdrop on the county he is supposed to be serving. What's worse, the equiptment is paid for by county taxes, just as Federal taxes pay for the F.B.I.'s versions of the same shit. It should be realized, however, that the Telecommand is only a remote-control extension of what the Telephone Company has been using for years. Previoisly, the police or F.B.I. had to listen from inside the Telephone Company building. Now they can listen from the pay booth across the street. The results are frightening. They can wait for just the right moment to break down the door and catch you smoking pot, for example. It is believed, furthermore, that computerized networks for tapping are being set up across the country. This would mean J. Edgar himself could simply dial out your number form his office and the tap would automatically be act- ivated. And if you don't think that they have the capability to monitor thousands of people at the same time, just remember that in a whole year, your cumulative total of phone time is probably only a few hours. Tapes stored for future reference could be quickly scanned for incriminating statements. Clicks are only a sign of an amateur tap. Do not ever assume that your phone is safe, even for a moment. And if you don't believe it- Arthur S. Brewster is division security supervisor for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, assigned to the Kansas City office. He is a lawyer and since 1950 has had the responsibility, among other things, of assuring pri- vacy of the hundreds of thousands of subscribers to the company's service. Drewster's relationship with the FBI was a close one; when the Long commit- tee subpoenaed him to testify, he notified the FBI's Kansas City office. Senator Long: Do your employees ever go with the FBI men when they were disguised as telephone employees? Mr. Brewster: I will put it this way. I think there were some bureau men who went with the telephone company people. They had on old clothes and those things .... Senator Long: Do you do this for private detectives? Mr. Brewster: No, sir. Senator Long: Why not? It is a public service. Mr. Brewster: I would have to have a lot of explanation.... "I should like to ask the Senator from Utah whether the telephone company has offered him the kind of proposal that it has offered me? "Has the Senator had proposals made to him that he could own a telephone building in his state and that the telephone company would make the loan and endorse the loan to build a building in a big city in his state just on the assurance that the Senator would give sympathetic consideration to the company's problem, if he would go along with them, and that the company would then build the building and endorse the mortgage loan and engage the bank to make the loan with the probability that he would wind up eventually being worth million or $25 million? Has my good friend ever heard the saying, "Keep the price as high as the traffic will bear?". "Did it ever occur to the Senator that he might be one of the only members of Congress who has never had the opportunity to own a telephone building?".< Senator Russell Long, on the floor of the Senate. Friends, are you disillusioned with the System? Beat it.

[HaBi 1]    THE PRIVATE EAR