Voyager's radio data rate has been reduced several times throughout the course of its journey. At 15 billion miles, the rate is now down to 1.4 kiloBits/S. Even at Saturn's distance it was only 44.8 kB/S. Yes, radio is a proven method for space communications, but the bandwidth available at light frequencies is magnitudes greater. That radio is "Good enough for me" sounds awfully close to the infamous Bill Gates remark that 640K is enough computer memory for anyone.
It's about time the issue of email privacy was settled. I'm glad to see it.
@LWATCDR: No, you wouldn't be breaking any laws by having an Ethernet sniffer, nor would you be in trouble for reading anyone's unencrypted email by any other method. The 'expectation of privacy' simply means that you cannot divulge the contents of a private email you read, or materially benefit from its contents. It's the same as listening to a private telephone conversation on a party-line or intercepting any other electronic communication (such as those from the older model cordless telephones) that are transmitted in the clear. Such laws have been on the books for years, as implemented by the F.C.C. And, it may surprise you, the same expectation is true of post cards: while, indeed, they are readable by anyone, there still exists a legal 'expectation of privacy' regarding them, and you cannot divulge the contents of personal correspondence to a third party.
Slashdot Mirror
Voyager's radio data rate has been reduced several times throughout the course of its journey. At 15 billion miles, the rate is now down to 1.4 kiloBits/S. Even at Saturn's distance it was only 44.8 kB/S. Yes, radio is a proven method for space communications, but the bandwidth available at light frequencies is magnitudes greater. That radio is "Good enough for me" sounds awfully close to the infamous Bill Gates remark that 640K is enough computer memory for anyone.
@LWATCDR: No, you wouldn't be breaking any laws by having an Ethernet sniffer, nor would you be in trouble for reading anyone's unencrypted email by any other method. The 'expectation of privacy' simply means that you cannot divulge the contents of a private email you read, or materially benefit from its contents. It's the same as listening to a private telephone conversation on a party-line or intercepting any other electronic communication (such as those from the older model cordless telephones) that are transmitted in the clear. Such laws have been on the books for years, as implemented by the F.C.C. And, it may surprise you, the same expectation is true of post cards: while, indeed, they are readable by anyone, there still exists a legal 'expectation of privacy' regarding them, and you cannot divulge the contents of personal correspondence to a third party.