paranoia to the max now, surveiilance seems to be turnin into proper cold war KGB type stuff… either the letter was intercepted or brown has been instructed to deny all knowledge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7225209.stm
Sadiq Khan said he was carrying out his normal MP work
Downing St says it has no evidence that the PM received a letter from the Conservative party warning that an MP’s conversations may have been bugged. Newspapers have alleged that Labour MP Sadiq Khan’s discussions with his constituent Babar Ahmad in prison were monitored by anti-terrorist officers.
Shadow home secretary David Davis says he wrote to the PM in December, but No 10 says it has no record of the letter.
this is another throwback to the 70s/80s.. and thatcho’s mob didn’t send letters to people saying they were being bugged either..
activists of those days (including councillors or MPs with radical views) were told to expect every public place to be bugged (to the point of “tinfoil-helmet” paranoia) – and in some cases even their homes but it was a lot easier then for the state to do this.
This was the standard telephone set that most people had in their house until the early 1990s. Until the mid 1980s, you had to rent this from the Post Office (which only became BT in 1981 and was part of the Government right up until 1984, and many people still rented their phones from BT until the 90s).
The phone was hardwired to the wall and you weren’t supposed to touch this wiring, only the PO/BT engineers were allowed.
Of course tapping the phone at the exchange was easily enough done and when BT was part of the govt was fairly routine for people like anti-nuclear campaigners. (today its not done as much because the telephone companies bill MI5/6/cops for the cost of setting up the intercepts!)
Unlike todays compact phones, inside the unit is a lot of spare space.
Phones belonging to activists were often plagued by odd “problems” / disconnections. So people would often report the faults, then the “nice man from the Post Office” would arrive (quicker than they usually did in those days!), and “fix” the telephone.
At this point, all sorts of hidden components could be introduced into the unit, or the phone substituted for an identical model already prepared. Now as there is always 48-50 volts DC going to a telephone line even when it is not in use, it is easy enough to design circults that used this current to activate the microphone inside the phone, but didn’t seize the line to “make a call”. The hidden circuit was made in such a way that it didn’t affect the normal operation of the phone, and could be switched on and off by certain tones send down the line.
By attaching special recording equipment inside the Telephone Exchange or anywhere along the phone wire the phone can then be used to monitor conversations inside the room!
anarchist books of those days warn activists not to hold meetings in a room with such a telephone present, or to play music next to the phone to overload the microphone.
activists of those days (including councillors or MPs with radical views) were told to expect every public place to be bugged (to the point of “tinfoil-helmet” paranoia) – and in some cases even their homes but it was a lot easier then for the state to do this.
This was the standard telephone set that most people had in their house until the early 1990s. Until the mid 1980s, you had to rent this from the Post Office (which only became BT in 1981 and was part of the Government right up until 1984, and many people still rented their phones from BT until the 90s).
The phone was hardwired to the wall and you weren’t supposed to touch this wiring, only the PO/BT engineers were allowed.
Of course tapping the phone at the exchange was easily enough done and when BT was part of the govt was fairly routine for people like anti-nuclear campaigners. (today its not done as much because the telephone companies bill MI5/6/cops for the cost of setting up the intercepts!)
Unlike todays compact phones, inside the unit is a lot of spare space.
Phones belonging to activists were often plagued by odd “problems” / disconnections. So people would often report the faults, then the “nice man from the Post Office” would arrive (quicker than they usually did in those days!), and “fix” the telephone.
At this point, all sorts of hidden components could be introduced into the unit, or the phone substituted for an identical model already prepared. Now as there is always 48-50 volts DC going to a telephone line even when it is not in use, it is easy enough to design circults that used this current to activate the microphone inside the phone, but didn’t seize the line to “make a call”. The hidden circuit was made in such a way that it didn’t affect the normal operation of the phone, and could be switched on and off by certain tones send down the line.
By attaching special recording equipment inside the Telephone Exchange or anywhere along the phone wire the phone can then be used to monitor conversations inside the room!
anarchist books of those days warn activists not to hold meetings in a room with such a telephone present, or to play music next to the phone to overload the microphone.
Thats some dodgy shit man!! What about mobile phones can they eavesdrop with them do ya know? :hopeless:
activists of those days (including councillors or MPs with radical views) were told to expect every public place to be bugged (to the point of “tinfoil-helmet” paranoia) – and in some cases even their homes but it was a lot easier then for the state to do this.
This was the standard telephone set that most people had in their house until the early 1990s. Until the mid 1980s, you had to rent this from the Post Office (which only became BT in 1981 and was part of the Government right up until 1984, and many people still rented their phones from BT until the 90s).
The phone was hardwired to the wall and you weren’t supposed to touch this wiring, only the PO/BT engineers were allowed.
Of course tapping the phone at the exchange was easily enough done and when BT was part of the govt was fairly routine for people like anti-nuclear campaigners. (today its not done as much because the telephone companies bill MI5/6/cops for the cost of setting up the intercepts!)
Unlike todays compact phones, inside the unit is a lot of spare space.
Phones belonging to activists were often plagued by odd “problems” / disconnections. So people would often report the faults, then the “nice man from the Post Office” would arrive (quicker than they usually did in those days!), and “fix” the telephone.
At this point, all sorts of hidden components could be introduced into the unit, or the phone substituted for an identical model already prepared. Now as there is always 48-50 volts DC going to a telephone line even when it is not in use, it is easy enough to design circults that used this current to activate the microphone inside the phone, but didn’t seize the line to “make a call”. The hidden circuit was made in such a way that it didn’t affect the normal operation of the phone, and could be switched on and off by certain tones send down the line.
By attaching special recording equipment inside the Telephone Exchange or anywhere along the phone wire the phone can then be used to monitor conversations inside the room!
anarchist books of those days warn activists not to hold meetings in a room with such a telephone present, or to play music next to the phone to overload the microphone.
you can get £10 for them old gp phones now you know??
Khan interview 