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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..."
The same had been done also in St.Petersburg (2nd largest city in Russia). it was not a terrorist attack but rather Bush visit there last May. Security of the summit had been cited as a reason to turn off encryption.
Russian laws require judge approval to eavesdrop on a communication. It is not known if such approvals had been granted in all these three cases.
Right. And you are one of those loonies that send all their mail in postcards and cares not about privacy. Good for you.
Problem though is, if and when goverment officials have access, they (some of them) will use it. For their main job, perhaps; for their entertainment, certainly, for other enterprises, quite possibly. Not just to listen to "really really bad guys", but gradually smaller fish, down to figuring out if their wifes are cheating them, or what their neighbours are talking about. Or for more enterprenially oriented peons, ways to blackmail people, or to get to some other useful information; be it for job or for personal businesses.
Never underestimate possibilities that open, or blindly assume everyone uses those powers responsibly. Grow up, use your brains, learn more about basic human nature, and corruption power causes.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
They didn't really "issue" a warning. They turned off the encyrption - making the antenea act like it wasn't capable of performing encyrption. Then all of the phones, noticing they don't have their normal encyrption, just added one more icon to the screen.
They only issued a warning in the sense that Iowa issues a warning to all cell phone users that you are currently roaming. It's a function of the phone, not the KGB.
tbdean
Yeah, I just read an article by John Dvorak that claimed that the whole stink with the RIAA is making privacy and anonimity forefront issues for many internet users. He says that all this is only going to make it harder for the RIAA/government to catch downloaders, and it will aid in things like child porn rings and ... I dunno I forget his other examples ;].
It's a good article, check it out Not sure if /. already posted it, but its relevant and worth it.
This post was brought to you by the number 584811 and the characters / and .
At least the Russian has the courtesy to warn all their phone users that this was going on
No courtesy or warning is needed. GSM handsets automatically display the no-encryption icon when OTA (Over The Air) security is turned off by the operator.
V