Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Communications 101

A communication requires five components. These are two processors, a transmitter, a receiver and a connecting link. When I talk to my wife there is a communication. The transmitter is my voice. My lungs force air across vocal chords creating a unique series of vibrations that enters the air and is received by my wife’s ears. On either end is a brain that acts as the processor, originating the message and decoding messages from others. What seems like a simple process is actually one of great complexity. It requires a brain to conceive the message, a voice box to encrypt it into vibrations, an airspace over which to pass, ears to decode it and a receiving brain to process it into the intended meaningful information.

Now indulge me if you will while I use the human model to explain what the NSA is trying to accomplish. Consider first that technology has yet to figure out how to access what your brain is thinking. That is something you control as an individual and if you choose not to divulge it thoughts are your unique and personal property. That is unless your society makes recourse to torture, a subject beyond the scope of this discussion. So If you think about it a message passing between two individuals can only be intercepted if it is captured on the transmission link. Historically eves-dropping is where espionage has focused much of its energies. With the advent of modern technology it is possible not to just evesdrop but to also read thoughts that have been encoded by electronic media. Think about it. The human voice has limitations of about a hundred yards at best and once the vibrations fade they are lost in a vast ocean of air. Consider however that messages that are passed by electronic means are capable of covering vast distances, can be texted or captured on recording devices. Not only can these be vibrations but also graphic images. We know our televisions, listen in that other appliances in our daily life capture information. The point I want to make is that no longer is it simply the verbal link in a voice communication that must be safeguarded but also a digital link that is becoming more and more commonly used.

I think it was during WW2 that the West really got into communications warfare. One of the earliest and best examples was the nigh time British air war over Germany. All manner of radar and measures and countermeasures were developed as amazing new technologies were conjured virtually out of the air.

Now we find that the NSA is expanding its capability for electreonic monitoring and taking it to a still new level. In order to appreciate where the bar currently is, one must appreciate where it has been evolving since WW2.

Obviously the telephone is a good place to start. Wiretaps used by law enforcement agencies that require a warrant signed by a judge are well understood. Then came the advent of the Citizen’s Band (CB) radio and soon everyone had to have a mobile receiver in their car and truck… “Ten-Four.” On the heels of this new technology came the scanner that allowed nosey citizens to listen in on what was happening in the neighborhood regarding law enforcement and emergency vehicles. The army took this scanner technology and tied it to cell phone monitoring in the Drug War in South America. Then came the worldwide proliferation of cell phones that expanded until almost everyone below the age of fifty had one. So where exactly are we now. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.