I have friends that are from another country , but have lived in the U.S. for about a dozen years. Their children play with ours and we have been over to their house to eat and vice versa. They are a nice couple and my wife and I like them.
so get to the point already !!*
We have noticed that when we call over to their house, the phone has a mysterious clicking sound. You know, like the sound that the movies use to convey the line is being tapped.
As I said, I like these people. HOWEVER, I did suspect that they might have some less than pristine clean connections. They are part of a an ethnic group that tends to stick together (Yes, I know that all groups new to the country tend to do this) and they have a monster-sized house. I don’t think they are directly involved in anything unsavory, but, maybe an uncle???
So, how do I break it to them?
Am I betraying my government by telling them what I suspect?
My intitial solution is to bring it up in casual conversation as something of a joke. But, definetely not while on the phone.
My phone used to click. When I got a nifty new phone that actually worked, it was so apparant that you could hardly have a conversation. I called the phone company and complained. They fixed it.
For the record, I’m not of any sort of “ethnic group that tends to stick together” unless you count the large number of white people in my area. I do have a monster sized house, at least for me, and I have to admit some of my friends are less that pristine. They’re, you know, construction workers and such ilk. Still, though, I think my phone service was just shitty, not tapped. Maybe I’m wrong, though! Maybe the Feds really do want to know what I say to telemarketers when they annoy me!
First, let me say that the phone only “clicks” when we talk to them.
I am being melodramatic when I say that I would be “betraying my government”, but the world has gotten much nastier in the last week. If the authorities believe my friends’ phone calls should be tapped and I let my friends know what I suspect, am I not “blowing” the tappers’ cover?
What, exactly, do you suspect? So far, all you’ve said so far is that they’re foreigners, they have a big house, and their phone makes a funny noise. Imagine calling into the FBI with that tip.
While it can’t hurt to keep your eyes and ears open, it won’t do you or the other couple good to allow your friendship to be poisoned by the vaguest of vague suspicions.
If the feds were tapping their phone, I’d expect in this technological era that they’d have equipment good enough to be pretty much undetectable. If someone else were doing so, who knows… but I seriously doubt that telling them is going to jeopardize some investigation.
I am not an expert in phone tapping, but consider this.
I don’t think that big time government phone taps would be that easy to catch. The gvt uses phone taps on big, high profile cases. These are people that are paranoid that their phone is tapped in the first place, and they still talk. I’d bet they don’t hear the “clicking” noises you’re talking about or they’d never talk on that phone again.
Therefore, using that logic, I doubt very much the government has it in for your friends. More likely someone in their house is picking up the phone and listening in on the conversation.
Wumpus, I believe he’s asking if he should tell his friends that he thinks their phone may be tapped.
I don’t know, plasticbryan. Given our country’s present state of mind, and the real possibility that there may be terrorists amongst us, I’d probably keep quiet about it for the time being. If the FBI really is tapping their phone, and they are terrorists, you don’t want to tip them (your friends, not the FBI) off. If they’re not terrorists, the FBI is probably too busy elsewhere right now to bother with them.
Maybe give them (your friends, not the FBI) a new phone as a Christmas present and see if the mysterious clicking stops. Or give the FBI a Christmas present and see how long it takes before your phone starts to click.
I don’t suspect my friends of anything. I had thought they may have had some relatives involved in a Mafia-type organization. I suspect that they are being tapped. Do I just say, “Hey, do you always have that funny clicking sound when you talk on your phone? Or, is it only when we talk?” If the government is tapping their phone, I am sure that it is to find out information from someone other than them.
a) a phone tap doesn’t generate clicks
b) your neighbors (friends?) have a poor phone connection, and notifying them would be kind
c) adding the facts to the conclusion that they’re potential terrorists is beyond silly. And yes you did do that.
My phone was tapped for a while. Never did hear any clicking or other suspicious noises. In fact I had no clue at all until the police raided my house and carted my roommate away.
It came out in his trial that the phone had been tapped for several weeks. No clicks. No buzzes. Nada. Almost a quarter century ago. I suspect the technology is even better now.
And you don’t ever want your house searched by cops.
Phone clicking in the modern age of wiretapping means someone has a crappy phone or a poor connection. It has nothing to do with wiretapping unless it’s a rotary line and some bad apple from the Telephone Pioneers of America http://www.telephone-pioneers.org/ has decided to use this line to test his circa 1950 surveillance equipment.
Most phone companies will provide you free of charge a service that will tell you if your phone is being tapped. I read of the SBC/Ameritech site they catch abuout 50-100 wire taps per year.
HOWEVER if you are being wire tapped by the FBI or any other government agency that has the legal right to do so, they will not tell you this is happening as the government would have an order to allow this.
Thank you to everyone for talking me down to earth. I will be calling them tonight and asking them if they here the clicks. I think I was simply getting paranoid.
