Subject: How to defeat call block (and how to guard against it)
Message-ID: <1992Jun1.104006.1194@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu>
From: perry@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Date: 1 Jun 92 10:40:05 -0500
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Organization: Carnegie Mellon Computer Club
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How to defeat call block for those who have caller ID.

I have used this several times, so this method is based on fact, and works
in Baltimore, Maryland.  I post this so that people who use call block will
be aware of this 'loophole'.

1)  A blocked call is coming in.  You have 2 choices here- Answer the phone
and talk to the person, then hang up OR wait till the phone stops ringing.

2) Use *69 (in our area, this calls back the last caller that called).  Wait
until the person answers the phone.  Immediately hang up and do a *69 again.
You will receive a message "That number is busy, You will get a call back
w/in 30 minutes if the line frees, special ring, etc".  In Maryland *69
cost .75 cents a pop..keep that in mind.

3) Hang up and wait for call back.  This should not be very long since the
person who answered the phone in step 3 will hang up after nobody is there.

4) Phone rings, and the 'blocked number' appears  unblocked.

This method was discovered quite by accident.  What the person who uses
call block can do to defeat this is to be wary about calls right after
a blocked call... and if nobody is there when you answer the phone, hang
up immediately.

Also, to address the cordless phone discussion:

        I have an AT&T cheap generic cordless phone, 1 channel, no digital
coding, no security measures.  If I drive around a neighborhood with the
handset on, listening to the static, all of a sudden I'll get a dialtone.
This works best in apartments.  Moral of the story:  Keep the handset on the
base unit.  I also discovered this by accident when I had the handset in
my jacket and drove over my friends house.  I felt the handset in my pocket
and decided to try it.  His neighbor's house had a cordless too..

Baby Monitors have tremendous range.  A good bearcat scanner will pick up
a clear signal blocks away.  Most people run these 24 hours.  Very unwise.

Anyone who has tried to listen to Celluar phone calls knows that you need
two receivers to understand the call, since send and receive are on separate
channels.

Here's my privacy question that I'm sure has been discussed before:

Should system managers be allowed to peruse user's mail?  In an academic
environment?  In a corporate environment?

Perry

perry@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Internet:  Caught in the Web