"Officials said government police authorities have expressed concern that satellite telephone systems may enable people to conduct conversations that are out of the earshot of government investigators. This would be particularly true in an area where, for example, there were no gateway through which government investigators could tap into calls.
Is there a technical reason why communications through these future satellite systems couldn't be encrypted? I thought that all of these systems were based on vocoders and digital transmission, just like a secure telephone. If the future telecommunications infrastructure is digital end to end, the carriers are going to be transporting streams of bits at some predetermined rate, not analog voice. Whether the bits are mu law encoded audio or PGP encrypted pictures of Senator Exon and his favorite gerbil should be irrelevant to the network. I wouldn't conduct a sensitive conversation over a wireless or cellular phone system. Why would the prospective customers of a satellite based system be satisfied with a system that allows anyone with the proper equipment to secretly monitor their conversations? I assume the market for this type of system is going to be lawyers, business executives and others who are willing to pay the high rates. Just the sort of people who should be concerned about the confidentiality of their conversations. -- John A. Limpert johnl@Radix.Net