2

I have heard many prank calls from ~2004-2007. In many of them, completely different people all mention the same thing about them "tracking the pranker", clearly in an attempt to scare the prank caller into ceasing to call them, and specifically mentioning that it's "better the longer the call goes on" because it "makes it easier to track you". They often mention that they have some other family member "with the cops right now on another phone" and how they are "getting closer to finding your location every second you keep talking".

What is this all about? What is it based on? Some sort of silly pop-culture spy/secret agent TV series from the 1970s or something? Is it in any way based on reality? Why would they all say the same thing if they are just making some nonsense up?

Even if we assume that random normal people had such "tracking gear" in their homes, which in itself sounds beyond absurd, why would it matter how long the telephone call goes on? Surely it's a boolean "true/false" if they can determine the caller's phone number/identity/location?

D Nowell
  • 21
  • 1
  • Are you taking historically or are you wanting to know about the modern digital phone infrastructures? – schroeder Sep 30 '21 at 07:20
  • @schroeder Both, really. – D Nowell Sep 30 '21 at 07:22
  • 1
    So, the answer is no, yes, and no. Any system that maintains logs of events creates a discoverable path as soon as the call is made. The original phone operators that would make the connections for you would keep a log. Mechanical systems would require a "backtrace" at each junction to reach the source, which would take time. Modern digital systems keep logs. So, no, yes, no. However, this is a little beyond the "Information Security" domain. – schroeder Sep 30 '21 at 08:28

1 Answers1

3

Historically, with mechanical telephone exchanges, there were no records or logs to let you trace a call after it had finished. You had to get the trace done while the call was still in progress. Obviously, the longer the call lasts, the more likely it is that the tracing process can be completed in time.

Mike Scott
  • 10,118
  • 1
  • 27
  • 35
  • But if you go further back in time, the phone operators would keep logs of the connections they made. So, you are correct but the question requires some more context. – schroeder Sep 30 '21 at 07:21