Members of the Student Senate voiced concern on Oct. 23 over stickers affixed to the handsets of phones on the Portland campus, including ones in the Student Senate office and WMPG. The stickers bear the statement: “DO NOT DISCUSS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION: This telephone is subject to monitoring at all times. Use of this telephone constitutes consent to monitoring.” At the bottom, in smaller text, the stickers are labeled “DD form 2056 1 Dec 78.” The stickers presence on University equipment is a mystery to University and Verizon officials.
“[The biggest issue is] some government entity might be monitoring individuals,” said Jeremy Collette, chair of the Student Senate.
The form is available for download on U.S. Government websites. It is distributed by the Department of Defense and used within that agency. Nancy Austin, associate director of Telecommunications, said she knew little about the stickers.
“The stickers have been brought to our attention, but they did not originate from this department,” said Austin.
Austin said she did not know who put the stickers on the phones or why. They appear primarily on the handsets of payphones on campus, which are owned by Verizon.
“We do not monitor our phones,” said Verizon representative Steven Scherring. He said he would look into the matter and asked that the stickers be removed from all Verizon phones.
Maine has laws against recording conversations on public and private telephones.
“The ability to record conversations in Maine has to be approved by a court order or mutual consent of both parties being recorded,” said Phil Lindley of the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
Among the phones with stickers are those in the office at WMPG. This has raised specific concerns with the WMPG staff because during last week’s Begathon, volunteers there took credit card numbers over the phone.
News Editor John Bronson contributed to this story.
Melissa St. Germaine can be reached at [email protected]