Slashdot Mirror
VoIP Numbers Stations were Social Experiment
IO ERROR writes "The mysterious phone number stations appearing on Craigslist for the last three months, which resembled their shortwave radio cousins, and which Slashdot reported on in June, were an experiment devised by security researcher Strom Carlson and a group of Los Angeles hackers to determine if encrypted messages could be passed using unwitting third parties to foil traffic analysis by hostile intelligence agencies. Carlson and the hackers presented their findings at DEFCON earlier today and gave away CDs with "Make your own Mein Fraulein station" kits and posted one final number station for people to try to decrypt."
I think we're moving to a society where just being suspected of a crime will be so bad (in terms of government harassment like no-fly lists, wiretapping, etc) that the most important thing will not be to make sure that the government can't read what you communicate, but rather have no reason to suspect you're doing anything they don't like. With current advances in data mining, it's going to be an arms race - the stenographers against the miners. I for one am fascinated by both technologies, and frankly rather terrified of how they each may be used. It was be interesting to see, but one thing is for sure - encryption will no longer be enough.
Of course, if you are visible as a "citizen" through credit card purchases, debit cards, atms, banks, etc. and all your other traffic is encrypted... It might make a case for a visual tail to be attached to you. Warrants are only required for searches... not observations in public areas.
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
A post containing the actual encoded message might get deleted from Craigslist due to its content (or lack thereof). A cleverly disguised reference to a phone number where the message can be retrieved fits in with the natural flora of Craigslist.
It's like doing the same thing on a restroom stall. "For a good time, call 202-555-3988" will probably get passed over as graffiti, but a large block of cryptic-looking numbers looks unusual enough to attract attention.