WEBVTT - Is there a way to detect illegal phone taps?

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<v Speaker 1>today's question, is it possible to detect if someone is

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<v Speaker 1>illegally using my phone line? It is possible and relatively

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<v Speaker 1>easy for someone else to tap into your landline phone,

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<v Speaker 1>especially if you live in a dorm or an apartment building.

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<v Speaker 1>If someone has access to the wire, they can connect

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<v Speaker 1>a phone to it and use your line. It's pretty rare,

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<v Speaker 1>though for one thing, the penalty for doing it is stiff.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also relatively easy to detect, and in general, phone

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<v Speaker 1>wires are not that easy to get to because they're

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<v Speaker 1>hidden inside walls. However, it's not unheard of. There are

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<v Speaker 1>two possibilities. The perpetrator can create a permanent splice into

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<v Speaker 1>your wire, in which case you would be able to

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<v Speaker 1>see if the splice is there by tracing the entire

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<v Speaker 1>length of the wire, or the perpetrator can clip in

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<v Speaker 1>intermittently at a junction box. This is what a telephone

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<v Speaker 1>repair person does when testing your line. In that case,

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<v Speaker 1>there's no physical evidence, it's fairly easy to catch someone

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<v Speaker 1>doing this. One thing you can do is get a

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<v Speaker 1>tape recorder for phone calls. The recorder is completely automatic

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<v Speaker 1>and starts recording as soon as anyone picks up any extension,

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<v Speaker 1>which would include an extension tapped into your line. It

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<v Speaker 1>captures both sides of the conversation. You could listen to

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<v Speaker 1>the tape and probably get a good idea of who

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<v Speaker 1>is tapped in. Hooking into a phone line like this

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<v Speaker 1>is as you would expect a federal offense. Once you

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<v Speaker 1>have evidence that it's occurred, turning it over to the

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<v Speaker 1>phone company or a police department for prosecution is the

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<v Speaker 1>correct path to follow. One easy solution to this problem

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<v Speaker 1>is to eliminate the landline and use a cell phone instead.