Tell HN: How would you solve my telecom problem?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37640491

by logicallee • 3 years ago

3 10 3 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

My fiancée is in one of the foreign services black sites and has no telephone access. She gets my mail and can read it but when she goes home my mail doesn't go home with her. If I send her my number she can't take it out of the site.

I would like to figure out how to have her call me from home from her own phone without breaking any sort of security. I've established that we are allowed to date or get married, the relationship itself isn't an issue and she is allowed to call me. But breaking security would be an issue.

How would you solve this telecom problem?

tastroder3• 3 years ago

What problem? Just clicking on your profile, your number is public information she can find in plenty of places without taking anything anywhere.

logicallee4• 3 years ago

As a matter of fact I didn't have my phone number on my profile here, but it's a good idea, I've just added it!

tastroder3• 3 years ago

I meant your website and resume that you linked there. If this is not some weird thought scenario, pointing her to the public forum you use to discuss alternatives to her simply talking to whoever's responsible for her comsec doesn't seem like the greatest idea. If this is an actual problem it's not yours to solve and certainly has solutions that aren't this... convoluted.

linkpuff2• 3 years ago

I think something is amiss here, her brain doesn't get wiped once she gets out of the black site, she can remember your number even if she gets out of the base without a piece of paper containing it. Have you two met before she went to the black site? If not, this reeks of a romance scam

logicallee4• 3 years ago

You are suggesting she exfiltrate my phone number by memorizing it? I don't think that's allowed. I wouldn't do that if it were considered a data leak.

Can you suggest any other approaches that do not involve exfiltrating data from a secure site?

linkpuff2• 3 years ago

Yes, I am suggesting that. Unless you believe that one can't think about work duties while cooking dinner. Otherwise she would forget entirely about your person at home. But I want to tackle this from a more serious angle, have you researched common signals of romance scams? The black site excuse to not use a phone is very suitable for a guy pretending to be a woman so he doesn't need to get a phone number and a voice modifier (a poor job at either would lead to destroying the scam)

Plus... wouldn't a black site also not have mail?

shortcake27• 3 years ago

I’m really confused. You’re in communication with your fiancee, you’ve been able to get engaged, yet neither of you have any way of contacting each other when they leave the black site? You don’t know each others home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts?

Based on the information you’ve provided, it definitely sounds like a romance scam. Have you met them in person?

Tell HN: How would you solve my telecom problem?

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