A classic movie scene.
Boss is having a private phonecall in his office with a business partner meanwhile her secretary is closely listening to their conversation simply just by picking her own phone on the desk.
How is she able to listen to the phonecall?
Was this a popular thing back in the days?
Were people aware that this could happen?
How could it be prevented?
In: Technology
Back in the days of POTS there were these things called phone lines….
Now a line holds the two way conversation. Any connection to that line can listen in on the call. That means any phone in the house, office phones on the same line, the operator, a telephone worker with a test set outside, etc.
Back when houses had telephones plugged into the wall, you could pick up any phone in the house and hear any call being made from/to the house.
She’s able to listen because it’s the same line. This was a very familiar situation to people with home phones with multiple extensions; if you picked up the phone while someone else was talking, you could listen to, and participate in, the conversation.
I realize that for people who did not grow up with a landline phone in their home this can seem confusing.
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