eavesdropping druggies

[Phil Karn]

Today's San Diego Union Tribune has a locally-written article on the
investigation into the murder of the Mexican cardinal by drug gangs.
The title is "Drug gangs eavesdrop on rivals", and begins as follows:L

"TIJUANA - The two rival drug gangs whose attempts to kill each other's
leadership have left a Mexican cardinal and six others dead apparently
have been using sophisticated electronic gear to monitor each other's
movements, Mexican authorities reported yesterday.

"In addition to the assault rifles, grenades and police and army uniforms
being discovered in a series of safe houses, Mexican federal police are
reporting finding devices designed to trace and monitor calls made from
cellular telephones.

"They also are finding sophisticated communications-monitoring equipment,
walkie-talkies, tape recorders and pages upon pages of documents."

The article continues with other developments in the investigation unrelated
to electronic eavesdropping.

A few (semi-serious) thoughts come to mind:

1. Perhaps the government doesn't want secure telephones in the hands of
the drug lords not so much because it will thwart wiretapping by law
enforcement, but because it will protect the gangs from each other --
and they aren't inhibited by Constitutional requirements.

2. Gee. I thought the cellular eavesdropping problem was completely
solved by the recent ban on cellular-capable scanners.

3. I can't wait for the Federales to discover computers with PGP in
one of these safehouses. And when it does, expect all hell to break
loose in the crypto propaganda war.

Phil