You know that feeling when, at some point, you realize you could have just died there, and suddenly you are overwhelmed with all the things that could kill you that are out there? This article feels like that.<p>There are relatively few ways to take over a western electric phone (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ericofon.com&#x2F;catalog&#x2F;classic3&#x2F;images&#x2F;2554&#x2F;2500we_re.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ericofon.com&#x2F;catalog&#x2F;classic3&#x2F;images&#x2F;2554&#x2F;2500we_...</a>) it goes off hook by putting a load on the line, it dials by sending tones in-band. There are ways to subvert it of course but if you care to learn them you can figure out whether or not your device has been subverted. Of course there are hundreds, if not thousands of ways to subvert an iPhone (or Android phone) without the user being able to tell, ever.<p>The fundamental difference is of course complexity, and <i>programmability</i> which adds an exponential factor to complexity.