Secure Voice Communications While Travelling?

captnitro asks: "My father works for the US Dept of Commerce in the Eastern Bloc. His hotel room phones are routinely bugged -- a few (former) coworkers have had their stays 'shortened' and politely asked to leave the country, when they said dumb things over the phone. A few days ago he asked me what I use for secure voice when I don't have broadband. Remembering PGPfone from a while back, I looked up the link, but apparently they're no longer supporting/distributing it. While I wouldn't recommend he say much of anything in a bugged room, it got me thinking -- what do *you* use for simple, no-nonsense (requiring modem + sound card), low-bandwidth secure voice app? Unix works, and scriptability gets geek points, but I'll take what I can get."

Comments

solution

[the_other_one]

Call on the shoe phone
Within a cone of silence
Talk very loudly

NCT

[Henry V .009]

Me? I bring my Navajo Code Talker with me wherever I go. I do have certain problems with system interoperability, but that is understandable, I'm told.

Man I'm naieve

[Anonvmous Coward]

" His hotel room phones are routinely bugged -- a few (former) coworkers have had their stays 'shortened' and politely asked to leave the country, when they said dumb things over the phone."

Can somebody explain to me the dynamics involved here? I've been sent to my room before for telling everybody at the dinner table that my mom had to buy larger underwear after gaining some weight, but I've never been told to leave the country...

Re:Man I'm naieve

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Well, you didn't actually mention that the reason she was gaining weight was in fact that she was pregnant, and that it wasn't dad's, it was uncle Harry did you? If you had, you'd probably would have been better off in a different country :-)

You should read Slashdot more often

[Anonymous Coward]

Can yuo tlak liek tihs?

Don't talk

[duffbeer703]

Since the gov't isn't willing to provide secure communications, don't talk on the phone. Talk in person in a hotel room with loud music. Bagpipes and tapes of japanese people talking are particularly good.

Nothing

[Johnny Mnemonic]

What do I use? Nothing. Either of these are true: 1) the gov't in question can crack any lame, consumer oriented encyrption I use; therefore any security I use just provides me with a false sense of security. Or, 2) the gov't in question can't crack it, and their interests are raised. In this instance, "their interests are raised" means I am dragged down to the police station and my testicles have electrodes taped to them; my screams aren't encrypted, natch.

I would suggest that your father not talk about stupid things on the phone when visiting hostile foreign countries, and when he does so, to not depend on consumer grade security. He may as well use the decoder ring he got with a box of cereal.

Eastern Bloc???

[Ross Finlayson]

Hello? 1973 called. They want their story back :-)

To maintain my privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

I always code my vocabulary using a one time hash known only to me. A one time hash is impossible to break but care must be taken to wear a tin foil hat during the encryption phase.

But for the average Commerce Dept. worker, he should record his messages on an mp3 device while walking through a park. Then use steganography to hide the messages inside emails that appear to be spam generated by some common mutating virus with titles like, "Your mortgage is approved", "Prize Award Notification", and "Enlarge your penis!"

Some Options

[JamesP]

1 - Pig Latin
2 - Quenya Syndarin and stuff
3 - Parseltongue
4 - Windtalker

Or just talk like Sean Penn in I AM SAM. Anyone listening to the conversation will die before he finishes the phrase

hehe

[SHEENmaster]

Alright bob, switch it over to the strongest legal encryption over here.

Gung'f tbbq. Yrg'f xvpx fbzr ovt-oebgure nff naq fhccbeg frangbe Trbetr'f vqrn gb oblpbgg nyy pbzzhavfg angvbaf.

Bu fuvg! Gurl'er ng zl qbbbe! Qnzavg, jrer lbh frevbhf jura lbh fnvq guvf jnf yrtny