Cellular Privacy [Digital vs. Analog]

[Jonathan Cooper <entropy@IntNet.net>]

> Well, it is true, from a pragmatic point of view.  A neighborhood kid with a 
> Radio Shack scanner can't listen in on digital cellular calls.  You have to 
> actually hack a phone, which is a much less prevalent skill.

   True.  And the fact is, monitoring any _one specific call_ is rather 
difficult to do without specialized equipment - in my experience with 
modified analog phones, one has to hop between 50 cells at the minimum 
before they can hope to monitor a specific call.  I've yet to obtain a 
digital cellphone to modify, but with the recent legislation about 
cellular phone monitoring, I wouldn't be surprised if it were more 
difficult to hack them.  (and just from the size of them alone, I would 
guess that they're mostly surface-mount, which is a pain in the arse for 
most people without elaborate facilities)

> I still think that CDMA+DES is the way to go for secure cellular, but from a 
> purely pragmatic point of view simply going digital does increase privacy.  
> Using analog cellular is like using a walkie-talkie.

   Good analogy. 

-jon
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