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Powerline Networks Interfere With Spooks?
An anonymous reader writes "Powerline technology which ships network data over mains cables could be causing interference for spies, according to a letter from the UK's top secret listening station, GCHQ. However, the British regulator says that objections to powerline all come from radio amateurs — and a Google search reveals that the writer of the letter (which GCHQ seems to be disowning) comes from a ham."
Garbage collectors headquarters??
SENTRY SAPPIN' MY SPY?
Last I checked most 'bugs' don't transmit in the shortwave bands. Now I know this interferes with amateur radio because when most stations are only pushing 100 watts you need a very sensitive receiver and a very good antenna, but would this interfere with spy number station reception which I'd say is done by cheapo shortwave receivers?
Here is the original GCHQ release mentioned in TFA.
Powerline broadband also interferes with HD Radio, Digital TV, DAB, and TV Band internet devices.
It's possible it also interferes with cellphones and Wifi, but I'm not certain (the frequencies may be too high).
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The Government Communications Headquarters is fortifying its defences in the war against hackers...which, for all they know, could be YOU!
Don't try anything funny...but, don't worry, if you aren't doing anything wrong, there is nothing to worry about.
Keep calm, carry on...just always know YOU are being WATCHED.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
This is just begging for someone to come up with a SheevaPlug-style jammer that dumps random onto your power lines.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
While "spook" is a rather old and controversial term to refer to a person of color, the term "spook" is more often associated with spies and counterintelligence. Most Slashdot users will find this headline perfectly acceptable since racism is likely not their first impression. On the other hand, only someone looks for racism around every corner or someone who has racism in the very forefront of their minds would bother to make a big deal about this.
I suggest you move on, and learn how to spell properly - your title caption is spelled wrong.
BPL (Broadband over Power Line) turns power lines into giant transmitting antennas. What could possibly go wrong? http://www.arrl.org/broadband-over-powerline-bpl http://www.arrl.org/news/city-of-manassas-to-end-bpl-service http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-shows-ibec-bpl-systems-are-interfering-violating-fcc-rules Yes, these are are Ham Radio references because we are the ones using the spectrum that BPL interferes (sometimes on a shared basis with other services).
Isnt HAM radio primarily needed in emergencies, when there is no other means of communication?
So, either you will have broadband over powerline, or it will be down.
You need HAM radio when it BPL is down, so it wont interfere anyways..
Isnt there a way to digitise HAM radio, encapsulate it and transmit it over IP?
HAM over IP would be the solution to most of the interference problems
There are international treaties concerning radio interference. Among the provisions of these treaties are sections defining amateur radio frequencies which are not to be assigned to other usage or interfered with. If power line communications interferes with amateur radio and emergency radio services, the country in question is in noncompliance with the treaties involved. The governing body of these treaties is the International Telecommunications Union; the United States and the United Kingdom are both signatories. (actually, almost every country on Earth is, with the non-signatories being North Korea and their ilk)
In the United States at least, treaties come immediately after the Constitution in being the highest law of the land (the Supremacy Clause). Depending upon where you are, your kilometerage may vary.
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
Could you explain what you're writing here? It looks like you're writing in tongues. What are you trying to communicate? Genuinely curious.
I told you, don't touch that darn thing!
I8-D
So GCHQ’s spectrum manager wrote this letter on official letterhead in March and somehow released or leaked it. The GCHQ claims it was not an official document, and insinuates as a ham operator the spectrum manager was trying to further his own hobby's agenda. The UK ham operators lobbyist group "Ban Power Line Technology" has a copy of this "unofficial" letter and is using it to prove that this technology is damaging the public good, but nothing is "official". How convenient for the GCHQ.
Ironically, i could easily see this having the opposite effect that the GCHQ is hoping for. I think more people care about having privacy in their home than inconveniencing ham operators.
Seriously, the whole point of HAM is it is independent of any infrastructure. HAM over IP? Seriously, just crank up Skype then.
Everyone knows that.
Everyone knows the best writers descend from hams. Right?
The ARRL (read: ham radio lobbyist group - I hate lobbyists but I do count them as one of the less evil ones) has been fighting this battle for a decade or so. This is a really really old issue. However, there's no doubt that powerline networking interferes with amateur radio. However, most people consider it Someone Else's Problem (apologies to Douglas Adams). Hams have traditionally been very successful with defending their spectrum, and it's sort of surprising to me that the battle continues. Probably because they're up against the Energy industry, whose lobbyists are uberl33t.
Do you derive any meaning from that? The bible is coherent, maybe as it was interpreted from the "raw feed", whereas I can't make heads or tails from your message.
How do you think God talked in the Bible, Hollywood?
The same way he talks to us now. :)
Via the crazy ramblers on the street
Since when does being a Socialist mean 'someone who has a different opinion than me'?
Underlay turntable grave work. Recursion host embarrassment, offering appointment dancing settle. Processor grand ruling abuse lesser kernel do make arguing space.
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
No - he misread the title to mean "Powerline Networks Interfere With Spocks?"
Anyone else read that headline and thought this story would be about ghosts?
http://g8pzt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fourpak/people.htm#g6awt
It's interesting the defense of interfering is, "those complaining are ham radio operators." What the post implies is we should minimalize the expertise of those of the general public who are not working for corporations making money off interfering technologies. We should value the input from those who have passed tests on radio theory and law all the more. They understand radio frequency quite well, having the technical means and interest in locating illegal interference.
Let's be quite clear: Ofcom knew about the interference. Years ago they commissioned a report on particular BT PLT devices with a reputable testing house and the report confirmed that the devices were non-compliant - but the report was kept under wraps. Every complaint made by shortwave users (BBC, SWLs, hams, etc.) was responded to with the indication that Ofcom had no evidence that the devices were non-compliant. So one guy made a FOIA request that relevant reports were released. Ofcom refused to release them, citing exemptions to the FOIA.
But the Information Commissioner demanded a release. And the report was finally released, confirming that Ofcom were lying, and demonstrating that Ofcom are not, in fact, an impartial regulator at all, but in bed with industry.
The RSGB's latest press release on the matter.
To summarise: Ofcom are a bunch of corrupt bastards.
"reveals that the writer of the letter comes from a ham."
I would pay big bucks to watch a ham bear a child. Even more for it to spawn a grown adult.
Somewhat less for slashdot to have good editors.
There is no interference? Really? The powerline networks interfere with the HF band. This is the band used for over the horizon radar (the Russian Woodpecker was really over the horizon radar). Its tricky how the back scatter stuff works, and how the advanced signal processing can pull images out of the refracted over-the-horizon signals (and it might be even more tricky using surface waves). Radar normally only operates line of sight, and a 2200 foot high antenna has a view of something at the horizon with 0 elevation of about 53 miles. With back-scatter and refraction, its closer to 600 miles. No interference from lan over mains? Really?
No surprise that the complaint comes from a ham. I have known a number of people who engineered radio systems for the military and intelligence community and every last one of them was also a ham.
If you're building fancy one-off radios for the spooks, building them for yourself for playing is trivial. And if you're INTERESTED enough in the tech to be good at engineering it you're probably interested enough to use it for a hobby.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I'M a racist you insensitive clod!
Wasting my breath I know, but...
> ... the British regulator says that objections to powerline all come from radio amateurs
The truth is that BPL interferes with ALL radio systems, however the Radio Amateurs are the only qualified observers who are bothering to express their concerns at this time. The Commercial and Official bodies will finally start to panic when the interference becomes disastrous.
Blaming in Hams merely proves that you are biased or lying.
I was thinking the same thing. It's similar to how people who program for a living tend to have nicer computers at home too...
...or someone who lives in a community where the term is still applied mainly to black people.
This is the internet, where you cannot be sure of who will read you or from where. Are you sure that, in all the places of the world, there will be no place where this slang will be missinterpreted?
Of course people of these places might try to understand that no everywhere is like their place, but so can you. And, having lots of perfectly correct ways to tell the same idea with standard, non-ambiguous English words, the choice of words is really very poor and shows a substandard work from the editors. Why could not they title it as "Powerline Networks Interfere with (Intelligence RF|Spies|SIGINT)?"? All of these options send the same meaning than the chosen one (or are even more precise), are less prone to error/susceptibility, and are more accessible to people who does not know slang.
In short, except you are writting in your FB profile for your friends, avoid slang while you can because there is a lot of world outside.
Why can't
Wow, never even heard of this as a racist term.