Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!isishq!doug From: doug@isishq.UUCP (Doug Thompson) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: long-distance monitoring Message-ID: <39.22719274@isishq.UUCP> Date: 24 Apr 88 04:59:56 GMT Organization: FidoNet node 221/162 - ISIS International, Waterloo ON Lines: 79 UN>From: nat%drao.nrc.CDN%ean.ubc.ca@BUITA.BU.EDU (Natalie Prowse) UN>It has recently come to my attention (from a very reliable source), UN>that UN>long-distance phone calls from Canada to the U.S. are monitored. Interesting. If you have it from a *reliable* source you probably know more about it than anyone else :-) -- what's the source? UN> According UN>to my source, a U.S. agency runs several Crays which do speech UN>recognition UN>and analysis, monitoring calls between Canada and the U.S. (and UN>other UN>countries too, I would suppose). This system searches for specific UN>keywords and records conversations which contain information UN>which would UN>be of interest to this (and other?) government agencies. Having UN>not been on UN>the net that long, I am curious as to whether or not this has UN>been discussed UN>before. Is it true, partially true, or a complete falsehood UN>(an "urban myth")?? UN>It certainly is possible, which disturbs me greatly. Well, I've heard lots of talk of this, and often from people with the U.S. *.mil arpa addresses. They were talking about the net being monitored. Clearly, it's not all that hard to do. A while back, some people started deliberately filling their signature files with USSR, ASSASSIN, HIJACK, etc. etc. etc., with the explicit intention of swamping any such monitoring device. Whether there is deliberate spying or not, I think you have to be aware that unless you have a good encryption system, there is no such thing as a private message in the net. System administrators can (and do) read msgs on their way through. I try to take the approach of never saying anything I wouldn't be prepared to repeat in any situation. What bothers me about security surveillance is the lack of checks and balances. What I'm confident would be acceptable discource among most of my countrymen may not be acceptable to some NSA fellow if it happens to involve such subversive ideas as fostering good relations with other countries, such as the USSR, or preserving Canadian independence against American cultural aggression. To you or me these might be pretty innocent ideas, but imagine what an Ollie North could do with them! UN>If it is true, will my message be intercepted on the net, and UN>never reach UN>this list??..... UN> UN> Natalie Prowse UN> Dominion Radio Astrophisical UN>Observatory UN> Penticton, B.C., Canada UN> Well, it got to Waterloo, but of course didn't have to cross the border to do it. No, they wouldn't likely intercept, just put you on a list to watch, and if you ever applied for certain kinds of jobs . . . Moscow Washington Communist Capitalist Cuba El Salvador Nicaragua Arms Legs -- Well, that should trip the Cray :-) -- if anybody *is* listening, drop us a line and join the fun :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fido 1:221/162 -- 1:221/0 280 Phillip St., UUCP: !watmath!isishq!doug Unit B-3-11 Waterloo, Ontario Bitnet: fido@water Canada N2L 3X1 Internet: doug@isishq.math.waterloo.edu (519) 746-5022 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- * Origin: ISIS International H.Q. (II) (Opus 1:221/162) SEEN-BY: 221/0 162 172