lex@mindvox.phantom.com (Lex Luthor) writes:
This is sophisticated, no question about it. I imagine the equipment/circuits are available to do all this to the general U.S. public, but still, I think the NSA probably provided the equipment as it was probably all integrated together and fairly idiot-proof to use. Maybe one big box, with a few of these big boxes being dispersed about the country-side.
The FBI used the same stuff a couple of years back to catch the people who kidnapped that Exxon executive. Considering how easy it is to pick up cellular transmissions and the way it works (cells with limited range), I believe it is something well within the resources of the FBI to develop. I really don't think the NSA has much of a hand in any of the things we hear about, unless it has something directly to do with crypto (which this does not, except, as Lex pointed out, that escobar probably should have been using strong crypto...). andrew