TELEPHONE “FAULT 77
Hand-Covering Ineffective
"The Press’’ Special Service WELLINGTON, Nov. 25. One in every 300 or so telephones in New Zealand is an upright Swedish-made Ericofon, and it seems that these modern upright telephones do not keep secrets. An Australian report said that the instrument was so sensitive that if a speaker covered the mouthpiece with a hand the person at the other end could still hear the conversation that was supposed to be muzzled. A trial in Wellington confirmed the Australian report. A hand on the mouthpiece made little difference to the audibility at the other end of “asides.” A Post Office official said there were about 3000 or 4000 Ericofons in the country, and almost a million ordinary telephones. The eavesdropper quality of the telephones was probably caused by a design fault, he said. As the dial face was in the base, the sound probably travelled up through the dial holes. A spokesman for the agents, ASEA Electrical N.Z., Ltd., said he would refer the matter to the Ericofon engineer, but he did not regard the peculiarity as a “fault.”
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30918, 26 November 1965, Page 12
Word Count
183TELEPHONE “FAULT77 Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30918, 26 November 1965, Page 12
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