Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Can Phone company "Technicians" wiretap phones?

I have a co worker who swears that her significant other routinely "taps" her phone and listens in on her phone calls. She thinks its a jealousy/possessiveness issue and believes she hears a "click" noise when he is tapping her line.

She is something of a drama queen, so I want to know if she could be right?

Phone company workers... Do you know anyone who taps phone lines for personal reasons? If it happens, why are the perpetrators never caught and prosecuted?

Update:

I already know its illegal, and hard to catch and that the guy risks losing his job. I am looking for specific knowlege about how common the practice is anyway. My initial impression is that the lady is a kook.

8 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Let me try to answer this one.

    1. Wiretap requires court order.

    2. If technician significant other is tapping the phone, it is illegal.

    3. If technician significant other is tapping the phone, your 'drama queen' friend WOULD NOT hear CLICK. Phone tapping at the central office is more sophisticated than that.

    4. Phone companies keep log of the activities and they are audited. Hence if someone is doing something illegal, it will be caught.

    5. Most central office equipment require password for making changes.

    6. One of the easy method of tapping is connecting a recorder at HOME itself. If your friend is worried, she needs to check out the wiring at the home.

    I don't believe a phone company worker will risk his/her job by tapping phone at the central office. If the phone is being tapped it is likely to be at home.

  • 1 decade ago

    You can ask your phone company to check your telephone connection to see if it has been tampered with.

    Generally tampering will occur somewhere between the phone itself and the pole connection - there is no way a nontelephone person can gain access to a call farther down the system.

    I hate to say it, but your friend sounds a bit paranoid. Tell her to use a cell phone - the tapping of cell phones is much more difficult and the equipment is very expensive.

  • 1 decade ago

    Yes, it can be done easily. It's not legal though, and it's difficult to catch. They'd have to know where to look. It's not as easy to detect as hearing a click. Anything can cause a click. My guess is she's being paranoid. She should try saying something that would test her "jealous" boyfriend. Maybe pretend to make a date, and see how he reacts when "leaving". She should right a note ahead of time explaining that it was a test and have a witness there to back her up.

  • 1 decade ago

    If they were they have sophisticated equipment that would not make any type of a 'click' noise so as to alert the person being listened to.

    It is illegal in most states to listen in on phone calls without a court order.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    nicely, in a manner you're suitable in spite of the undeniable fact that it can not be blamed on "Bush's flunkies". What this actual tale relatively is illustrating is the wanton inefficiency of Federal bureaucracies. attempt to wrap your ideas around this. If government bureaucrats are so inefficient that they allowed some thing as important as wiretap telephone line charges to proceed to be unpaid, think of what a central authority run wellness Care plan or a central authority run something could be. If some thing this important became mishandled with the aid of human beings in my corporation's debts payable branch somebody could be out of a job and important adjustments could be in place. Who became fired over this? no person, of direction. have self assurance me, we manage the federal government for all time. they are notoriously gradual payers. Many a small employer became placed out of employer with the aid of the federal government failing to pay their charges in a well timed way. with the aid of the way, people who cope with all those transactions are everlasting workers of the particular Federal branch in contact. no longer Presidential appointees. this happens in spite of who's interior the White homestead. the full Federal government needs a extreme funds minimize and audit. yet do no longer assume something like that to ensue interior the foreseeable destiny. Mitt Romney won't win the election. He became the final desire for that style of reform. you're able to desire to in basic terms get it from a real businessman. *

  • D N
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Yes they have the knowledge and access to do so. If done without a court order, or for personal benefit or gain, they can be charged. They would most likely also lose their job with the phone company.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    She's nuts. If he were tapping her phone she would never know he was on the line, unless he is outside with a butt-set or at the neighborhood box.

  • ?
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    YES

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.