BBC: UK security details 'listed on web'

[Nick Barron]

In article <3D18D801.3065.534142@localhost>, davidh@spidacom.co.uk (David 
Hansen) wrote:

> The spin of various four letter organisations that encryption of 
> radios is something new is just spin. Either they are lying through 
> their teeth, or they have forgotten the history of the technology 
> they are supposed to be familiar with.

I've not come across any 3/4LAs claiming that radio encryption is new. CESG 
might do so to boost their sales pitch I guess :-) 

> Digital mobile phones, which could have had real encryption had it 
> not been for the activities of certain four letter organisations, are 
> something like a decade old now.

Yep, and you'll find an awful lot of CID and the like using mobiles (or 
landlines) for sensitive comms. Not perfect, but sidesteps the £100 scanner 
enthusiasts nicely.

> The drips are very slow in coming out of the tap.

Amen to that, but it doesn't necessarily follow that there's a conspiracy 
behind it. I guess more recently there's been some reluctance to pay for 
analogue scramblers (ISTR that Cogent do a nice bolt-on pack for the 
standard Police radios) because of the upcoming change to TETRA and the 
like. 

Nik