-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- eric@remailer.net (Eric Hughes) wrote:

If I were doing global Internet monitoring, I wouldn't be doing it in-band. Too much cooperation by the vendors required; too much discovery. Rather, I'd gain access to the trunks directly and do my own demodulation and decoding.

How would you get access to the trunks? Aren't they mostly optic fibers now? Also, since Internet traffic is growing at a geometric rate, the probability of anyone or any organization having the capacity to monitor and process ALL of Internet traffic should be very small and decreasing. It would be much easier to install sniffers on selected local networks (e.g., those containing remailers or other entities you're interested in). Wei Dai -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLyirWjl0sXKgdnV5AQG12QP+LXVa/INx3JmwBqmSrZo8kNiteYIG9AwV 9hG+3qUt6/yvkz0v137lPVOGK+J78MkCDVYnPHeBcdYwmZ7Z8mpfaQGaPQnMnj9x Q9z9hbK9JVBYaN7Hpv0OtIobKn2OlEsJjdZxr8mcuqVN/OS1kHarmhtM2pyfxJ/l uY5/UGIlprA= =jIHR -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- E-mail: Wei Dai <weidai@eskimo.com> URL: "http://www.eskimo.com/~weidai" =================== Exponential Increase of Complexity =================== --> Big Bang --> atoms --> complex macromolecules --> biological evolution --> central nervous systems --> symbolic communication --> consciousness --> computers --> internetworking --> close-coupled automation --> high-bandwidth brain-to-net connections --> artificial intelligence --> distributed consciousness --> group minds --> ? ? ?