paging nets

[Jeff Ubois <jubois@netcom.com>]

Interesting recycled bits from Newsbytes concerning a BBC story drawn from
Usenet: 

BBC Blows Radiopager Security Systems Wide Open
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1996 OCT 2 (NB) -- By Steve Gold. The
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has revealed that radiopaging
messages on the UK's paging networks can be read by anyone with a
radio scanner and suitable PC software. In addition, the British TV
company claims that it is also possible to insert bogus messages onto
the paging networks using instructions on the Internet. 

... BBC journalists, meanwhile, said that UK radiopaging
transmissions were unencrypted and, as such, were insecure when viewed
alongside digital cellular phones, where signals are encrypted.  

...the BBC claimed it had been shown messages
reporting on the activities of Tony Blair, the head of the British
Labor Party, along with a message referring to a residence of a member
of Royalty.

Newsbytes noted that the same system is used in the US.