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Secure Voice Communications While Travelling?

Posted by Cliff on from the thwarting-eavesdroppers-everywhere dept.

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."

6 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. NCT by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  2. Analog Hole by zulux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Voice has a *huge* analog hole - any microphone within 100 ft can pick the converation up, and parabolic dish or laser bounched off the window can extand that range to blocks.

    So given that you want to be secure, you *really* have to rule out speach.

    So try IM.

    --

    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  3. bad idea by Asgard · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you are in a foreign country and the state agencies are bugging your calls, you better be darn sure of what their crypto laws say because you might get arrested for spying if you break them.

  4. Don't talk by duffbeer703 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    --
    Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
  5. Nothing by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 4, Funny


    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.

    --

    --
    $tar -xvf .sig.tar
  6. Eastern Bloc??? by Ross+Finlayson · · Score: 4, Funny

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