Re: Hacking ClipperPhones

[rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray)]

Mike Ingle () writes:
> 
> > What do you think?
> 
> I think I definitely want to see Clipper Phones hacked and slashed out of
> existence, but as long as hardware hacking is required, their availability
> will be limited to a small group of people who know how to use a soldering
> iron. Why not concentrate on using commercial hardware (fast modems,
> soundblaster cards with DSP, voicemail cards with hardware compression, etc)
> to make a plug-and-play cryptophone using 3DES or IDEA, and PGP keys? That
> will appeal to a much larger audience. We should definitely learn all we can
> about the Clipper system, however.

  In a way, I agree, but I am skeptical on the price point we will be able
to achieve compared to just cannibalizing a ClipperPhone for spare parts.
Ideally, the "cypherpunk phone" should consist of
1) cheap v.32 modem (<$200)
2) cheap 8bit sampler/audio card
3) CELP vocoder ardware, or cheap DSP with it implemented in software
4) a fast 486 (to do real time 3DES/IDEA @ CELP rates)

   Most people already have 1,4, they need 2,3 which will cost anywhere from
$300-600 depending on what kind of DSP you get. This is too much money
for such a standard to proliferate. If the ClipperPhones are cheaper, we
could do better to buy those and cannibalize them for parts.

(maybe we could convince ZyXeL to add an "auto-CELP-comp" mode like v.42
to their modems with built in CELP? )



-- Ray Cromwell        |    Engineering is the implementation of science;    --
-- EE/Math Student     |       politics is the implementation of faith.      --
-- rjc@gnu.ai.mit.edu  |                         - Zetetic Commentaries      --