[9345] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NYC events and cell phones
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Rose)
Sun Sep 16 23:24:29 2001
Message-Id: <4.3.1.2.20010917120934.02648008@203.30.171.11>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 12:13:15 +1000
To: Peter Fairbrother <peter.fairbrother@ntlworld.com>
From: Greg Rose <ggr@qualcomm.com>
Cc: "Angelos D. Keromytis" <angelos@cs.columbia.edu>,
t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com>,
Cryptography List <cryptography@wasabisystems.com>
In-Reply-To: <B7CB07FF.D1BE%peter.fairbrother@ntlworld.com>
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At 01:53 AM 9/17/2001 +0100, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
>It is possible that damage to basestations or volume of traffic may have
>caused this failure. Possibly, the telco switched it off to maintain
>service. Equally, the FBI/NSA etc may have switched it off, but I don't know
>why they would bother - the encryption is only between the mobile and the
>basestation, and they could pick up plaintalk there much more easily.
There is one very simple reason why they might have wanted the encryption
switched off. Wiretapping at the base station requires a wiretap order,
whereas sniffing the airwaves in a matter of national security is something
the NSA is allowed to do (but they can't get a wiretap order in a hurry).
I don't know any facts in this matter at all, but I wouldn't be surprised
if someone, somewhere, requested air interface encryption to be turned off.
Greg.
Greg Rose INTERNET: ggr@qualcomm.com
Qualcomm Australia VOICE: +61-2-9817 4188 FAX: +61-2-9817 5199
Level 3, 230 Victoria Road, http://people.qualcomm.com/ggr/
Gladesville NSW 2111 232B EC8F 44C6 C853 D68F E107 E6BF CD2F 1081 A37C
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