Well my friends, you thought you heard it all. Keystroke readers planted on our computers, so that spies can know what we're writing before we send it! Secret microphones that will pick up your keystrokes, computers that will translate these into text, and -- POW! -- all our passwords, private correspondence, and anything at all we type in eaten up my nameless, faceless, entities of espionage -- beings who crave knowledge for power, money database volume, or other perfidious purposes.

Then there are the hidden web cams, all around -- some are not hidden, others are. They take our pictures doing just about everything we do -- everywhere. Nothing is secret anymore. We spend lots of money to keep monster reporter spy ware out of our computers -- we buy security systems to protect out cars. We try to avoid be photographed and recorded by entities that we cannot communicate with or recognise. We do our best to maintain just a little bit of privacy in this technological world.

I have identified a blind spot. A huge gaping hole of blindness in Tel-com security. What is it? The answering machine on our home phones. I don't know how it is outside of the Free World, but I know that I cannot buy a service from any telephone company (to my knowledge) that does not include the "Remote Access" feature. That is to say, I can check my phone messages, change settings on the system, etc. from *any location*.

Usually this requires knowledge of a three or four number numerical code. I have also found that I cannot buy (to my knowledge) a personal phone answering machine that does not have the "remote access" feature built in. Not only that, in no case is it possible to disable this feature.

Now it may be that I live with someone who can easily access the password. It may be that the password can be scooped up by spy ware devices, just those devices that are used on computers. The codes are always three or four digit numerical codes, so it wouldn't take a computer long to crack one. Changing the code all the time is impractical. More advanced passwords do not seem to be available. And, *there is no way to disable the feature on any answering system*.

Think about it. Anyone one, or someone, can access your phone messages, listen to your voice mail, delete or save what they want, then exit your system tracelessly.

Do you like that? I don't.

I want a phone machine. I want to be able to disable remote access completely. I want a secure line, one that I can trust that my messages are in fact mine and that they have not been altered or deleted by phone system hackers. I bet you want the same thing.

This issue touches at the core or our personal security, yet there is a big blind spot -- people protecting their computers, cars, and homes, while their voice communications are left wide open.

Let's do something!