  I study the dynamics of a Josephson junction serving as a threshold detector
of fluctuations which is subjected to a general non-equilibrium electronic
noise source whose characteristics is to be determined by the junction. This
experimental setup has been proposed several years ago as a prospective scheme
for determining the Full Counting Statistics of the electronic noise source.
Despite of intensive theoretical as well as experimental research in this
direction the promise has not been quite fulfilled yet and I will discuss what
are the unsolved issues. First, I review a general theory for the calculation
of the exponential part of the non-equilibrium switching rates of the junction
and compare its predictions with previous results found in different limiting
cases by several authors. I identify several possible weak points in the
previous studies and I report a new analytical result for the linear correction
to the rate due to the third cumulant of a non-Gaussian noise source in the
limit of a very weak junction damping. The various analytical predictions are
then compared with the results of the developed numerical method. Finally, I
analyze the status of the so-far publicly available experimental data with
respect to the theoretical predictions and discuss briefly the suitability of
the present experimental schemes in view of their potential to measure the
whole FCS of non-Gaussian noise sources as well as their relation to the
available theories.
