Bill Gates and Steve Jobs used to manufacture them and sell them. You have to know the code sequence to go though to make it work as well. Many phone phreaks used to know how to do this.
Private detectives would also order what is called a "detached extension" of a number they wanted to listen in on. A detached extension mean a telephone that is an extension of a telephone that is very far away. There used to be a loop hole in the way phone companies worked in that you could order work on a telephone line without telling the customer who had that number that work was being done. So in a sense you tricked the phone company into tapping a phone for you.
spoken right out of your asshole
a) the deviced used also tells them if the phone is off the hook, does the device also act as a cam to see if the phone is on the floor? They CANNOT listen its designed using wave logic and it shows chat or no chat and if its off the hook it shows the no chat + no DT and when they bridge over to tell you "you have an urgent call from so and so..." its a one line thing they can only hear the person they are dialing to not the person on the other end, wanna try it well here is how you will know, get on the phone with somebody then have someone attempt to make an emergency interuption to your phone then your other caller you with have them respond to the operator you will see the operator cannot hear them.
b) bill gates was making boxes so people can make free payphone calls it would generate a beep that was the signal that money was inserted into the phone and let you make your free call, no clue where the heck you get your bullshit from.
more details about the device gates was playing with
http://domania.info/node/283Now can the govt track you and listen to you hell yeah easier then you think, cell phones give off pings as you change tower locations they can go back for years to see what day and what time your phone was at what tower.
This technology just got someone off with murder! read this
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/nyregion/24phone.html?_r=1&oref=sloginEven more do you know most cell phones can act as a bug as a mic? the govt can turn on remotly the mic end of almost anyphone and listen to you, yeah sounds like bullshit read this.
http://www.news.com/FBI-taps-cell-phone-mic-as-eavesdropping-tool/2100-1029_3-6140191.htmlI can go on and on with stuff thats not just hear say but serious govt. confirmed stuff mostly during trials.
I laugh when people think hushmail is the answer or nextel prepaid lol fucking idiots the jails are full of hushmail and nextel prepaid users