– The Lock in Trace
A lock in trace is a device used by the F.B.I. to lock into the phone
users location so that he can not hang up while a trace is in progress. For
those of you who are not familiar with the conecpt of ’locking in’, then here’s a
breif desciption. The F.B.I. can tap into a conversation, sort of like a three-way call
connection. Then, when they get there, they can plug electricity into
the phone line. All phone connections are held open by a certain voltage of
electricity, that is why you sometimes get static and faint connections
when you are calling far away, because the electricity has trouble keeping
the line up. What the lock in trace does is cut into the line and generate that
same voltage straight into the lines. That way, when you try and hang up,
voltage is retained. Your phone will ring just like someone was calling you even
after you hang up. (If you have call waiting, you should understand better
about that, for call waiting intersepts the electricity and makes a tone that
means someone is going through your line. Then, it is a matter of which
voltage is higher. When you push down the receiver, then it see-saws the
electricity to the other side. When you have a person on each line it is impossible to
hang up unless one or both of them will hang up. If you try to hang up,
voltage is retained, and your phone will ring. That should give you an
understanding of how calling works, also. When electricity passes through a certain point
on your phone, the electricity causes a bell to ring or on some newer
phones an electronic ring to sound.) So, in order to eliminate the trace, you somehow must lower the voltage
level on your phone line. You should know that every time someone else picks
up the phone line, then the voltage does decrease a little. In the first steps
of planning this out, Xerox suggested getting about a hundred phones all
hooked into the same line that could all be taken off the hook at the same
time. That would greatly decrease the voltage level. That is also why most
three-way connections that are using the bell service three way calling (which
is only $3 a month) become quite faint after a while.
By now, you should understand the basic idea. You have to drain all of
the power out of the line so the voltage can not be kept up. I rather sudden
draining of power could quickly short out the F.B.I. voltage machine,
because it was only built to sustain the exact voltage nessecary to keep the
voltage out.
For now, image this. One of the normal radio shack generators that you
can go pick up that one end of the cord that hooks into the central box has a
phone jack on it and the other has an electrical plug. This way, you can
"flash" voltage THROUGH the line, but cannot drain it. So, some modifications
have to be done.
- Materials needed
a BEOC (Basic Electrical Output Socket), like a small lamp
type connection, where you just have a simple plug and wire
that would plug into a light bulb.
One of cords mentioned above, if you can’t find one then
construct your own... same voltage connection, but the
restrainor must be built in (i.e. the central box)
TWO phone jacks (one for the modem, one for if you are
being traced to plug the aqua box into)
Some creativity and easy work.
NOTICE : No phones have to be destroyed/modified to make this box, so
don’t go out and buy a new phone for it !
All right, this is a very simple procedure. If you have the BEOC, it
could drain into anything, a radio, or whatever. The purpose of having that is
you are going to suck the voltage out from the phone line into the
electrical applicence so there would be no voltage left to lock you in with.
1)Take the connection cord. Examine the plug at the end. It should have
only two prongs, if it has three, still, do not fear. MAKE SURE THE
ELECTRICAL APPLIENCE IS TURNED OFF unless you wanna become a crispy critter while
making this thing. Most plug will have a hard plastic design on the top of them
to prevent you from getting in at the electrical wires inside. Well, get a
nice and remove it. If you want to keep the plug (I don’t see why...) then
just cut the top off.
When you look inside, low and behold, you will see that at the base of
the prongs there are a few wires connecting in. Those wires conduct the
power into the appliance. So, you carefully unwrap those from the sides and pull
them out until they are about and inch ahead of the prongs. If you wdon’t wanna
keep the jack, then just rip the prongs out. If you are, cover the prongs
with insultation tape so they will not connect with the wires when the power
is being drained from the line.
2)Do the same thing with the prongs on the other plug, so you have the
wires evenly connected. Now, wrap the end of the wires around each other. If
you happen to have the other end of the voltage cord hooked into the phone,
stop reading now, your too fucking stupid to continue.
After you’ve wrapped the wires around eahc other, then cover the whole
thing with the plugs with insulating tape. Then, if you built your own control
box or if you bought one, then cram all the wires into the and reclose it.
That box is your ticket out of this.
3)Re-check everything to make sure it’s all in place. This is a pretty
flimsy connection, but on later models when you get more experienced at it then
you can sauder away at it and form the whole device into one big box, with
some kind of cheap mattel hand-held game inside to be the power connector.
In order to use it, just keep this box handy. Plug it into the jack if
you want, but it will slightly lower the voltage so it isn’t connected. When
you plug it in, if you see sparks, unplug it and restart the WHOLE thing.
But if it just seems fine then leave it.
– Using it
Now, so you have the whole thing plugged in and all... DO NOT USE THIS
UNLESS THE SITUATION IS DESPERATE ! When the trace has gone on, don’t panic,
unplug your phone, and turn on the appliance that it was hooked to. It will
need energy to turn itself on, and here’s a great source... the voltage to
keep a phone line open is pretty small and a simple light bulb should drain
it all in and probably short the F.B.I. computer at the same time.
Happy boxing and stay free !