> And it really was significantly harder for anyone except the government to listen in on phone conversations. This is absolutely not true. Outside everyone's

> And it really was significantly harder for anyone except the government to listen in on phone conversations. This is absolutely not true. Outside everyone's house was a box, and by hooking two wires there you could easily monitor phone calls. There was similar security every where else along the way. When wireless (not cellular) phones became common, you could get a scanner to listen them (I'm not sure they were legal to sell listening at that frequency but they were easily modified). The POTS was simply not secure at all.