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>using a "pen register".[1] (The one shown in Wikipedia is mine.

Any idea of museums that may hold historical pen registers (or paraphernalia) for public viewing?



There's one in Tempe, AZ that has a 1980s "Dialed digit recorder", but that's a much later microprocessor controlled unit.

The mechanism is that of a "Morse inker", a recorder used to receive telegraph signals. Here's one that's part of a Siemens telegraph set from 1862 or so.[1] The wiretapping version is the receive part of a telegraph set made portable in a nice wooden box with a carrying handle.

All this shows how rare wiretapping once was. Law enforcement had to use repurposed antique telegraph equipment.

[1] https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co32910...




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