Mass-market crypto phones

[Peter Trei]

 "Clay Olbon" writes:
> If I'm not mistaken (and I've been known to be from time to time :-), cell
> phones are already encrypted between the phone and cell tower.

He's mistaken, at least for analog cellphones in the US - digital
cellphones (just starting to come in now) may have some form
of protection.

Before a law was passed, it was easy and legal to listen in on
cellphones on most scanners and many ham radio outfits (and
even some UHF TVs). Now it's merely easy.

It's kind of pathetic - I'm sure that the billions lost to cellular fraud 
far outweigh the value of crimes that the  LEA groups have been 
able  prevent by preserving their ability to illegally eavesdrop on 
cell calls without a warrant.

Peter Trei
trei at process.com
(standard disclaimer applies)

Peter Trei
Senior Software Engineer
Purveyor Development Team                                
Process Software Corporation
http://www.process.com
trei at process.com