Russians Order Mobile Phone Encryption Removed

PenguinRadio writes "The Moscow Times is reporting that Russian security officers (The FSB, formerly the KGB) ordered all mobile phone providers to switch off their encryption systems for 24 hours, so the police could eavesdrop on all calls. An alert, either an exclamation point or an unlocked padlock, was sent to the phones in question. This is the second time such an order was given - the last time was after the hostage crisis involving Chechnya fighters in a Moscow theater. At least the Russian has the courtesy to warn all their phone users that this was going on. Not sure what the standard FBI procedure is on something like this..."

Comments

Standard FBI procedure is..

[Anonymous Coward]

to deny, deny, deny.

The official FBI policy...

[bc90021]

...is probably to have every undercover agent in Russia drop what they're doing and man some listening devices. ;)

In Soviet Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

The KGB unencrypts YOU!

Re:In Soviet Russia

[Dr Reducto]

This is the one time when I think Soviet Russia jokes are on topic.

It's foil-hat-tastic

[Faust7]

Not sure what the standard FBI procedure is on something like this...

Isn't it obvious? They originate the signal from their secret base on the dark side of the moon, route it through ECHELON, then through the chip in your cerebellum, off the relay in the piece of fried chicken you're eating, through your computer just on general principles, then to your cell phone where it summarily cracks the encryption and displays the letters "BB." Then it kills you.

FBI Procedure?

[browse]

Not sure what the standard FBI procedure is on something like this..."

You mean what was the procedure the last time they did it, or what will be the procedure the next time?

In Soviet Russia....

[Dynedain]

a) cell phone encryption turns on you! (how appropriate)

b) cell phone encryption turns you on! (only on /.)

Polite KGB

[retto]

I hope Ashcroft doesn't get any ideas from this. We may wind up getting little text alerts on our cell phones when the Bill Of Rights is, and is not, in affect.

Civil Rights On....Civil Rights Off...Civil Rights On...Civil Rights Off...

Polute to the extreme?

[geek]

"At least the Russian has the courtesy to warn all their phone users that this was going on"

Yo Al Qaeda, we'll be listening to your phone calls on September 16th from 4am to 5am. Just FYI, so go about your day as usual.

Just brilliant isn't it? Next we'll be mailing crack houses letters informing them of the raid 3 weeks later.

Hey analog-boy...

[Anonymous Coward]

1998 called, it wants its cell phone back.

Modern (digital) cellphones cannot be tapped with a radio. You are the weakest link, goodbye.

Re:Government isn't tracking YOU

[sixdotoh]

It is exactly because of myopic idiots like this that we have a constitution.

The Supreme Court is taking care of that....

Old Russian Adage...

[tspauld98]

Funny, this reminds me of a joke that a Russian friend told me...

Both of us are of the age that we grew up during the Cold War and remember what it was like having nukes pointed at each other day and night...

Anyway, we were on the phone and the connection was really bad. At one point, we heard a click similar to someone picking up the phone. So, Dmitri paused and said, "Wait a second..." After a few seconds, he began to speak again and I asked what had happened. He explained that, in Russian, it is considered polite to pause the conversation when you hear the FSB changing the tapes recording your conversation. :)

I laughed my ass off.... Yes, people, I'm now ass-less....