Scanner and Radio Enthusiasts under DIRECT ATTACK by the
Cellular Industry
=========================================
and no one gives a damn...
By: Brian Oblivion
L0pht Heavy Industries
April, 9th, 1999
In the shadow of the NATO assult on Yugoslavia, the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) along with the
FCC has attacked and criminalized a large portion of the
American population. The CTIA has successfully lobbied for an
extension to the restrictions imposed on scanning radio
receivers to block the reception of Cellular Radiotelephone
communications.
I have been very outspoken on this issue in the past, however,
many times my anger and frustration have clouded my resolve, and
many points are never fully brought to light.
There are a few points I would like to clarify, and in doing so
you should see why this constant bullying by otherwise lazy
industrialists is bad for the country.
1. They are attempting to put a band-aid on a technology which
is inherently insecure. Rather than perfecting the
communications channels in which the conversations are
transmitted over, and confidently telling their subscribers that
their communications channels are relatively secure, they opt to
ban scanning receivers, and lie to their subscribers regarding
their privacy.
2. Rather than expending resources to secure the network, they
spend large amounts of time and sums of money lobbying for more
laws criminalizing even more of the population. They neglect
the burden of the protection of their subscribers privacy by
continuously failing to secure their communications network.
Furthermore, they demonize those who revealed these holes in the
communications infrastructure. Does this mean that terrorist
organizations and organized crime are going to immediately stop
using their newly illegal scanning receivers? No it does not.
3. They target a SPECIFIC portion of the spectrum to apply
restrictions to. We all know that the electromagnetic spectrum
and it's mapping continually change from year to year as
wireless technologies continue to advance and increase in
frequency. I ask you this: How easy is it to repeal existing
laws? Why expend this amount of energy now only to repeal it
later, when the Cellular RadioTelephone service moves out of
this region? What's that? Why repeal it at all, once public
service moves into the region.
4. They are damaging the scanning receiver industry as well as
the Amateur Radio Industry by making them apply ridiculous
filtering/band restrictions to chunks of the radio spectrum,
thereby complicating full range receivers. This complication is
passed down to the consumer, thereby alienating many younger
hams, volunteer public services folk, and scanner enthusiasts.
The Government is as much to blame as the CTIA. It is in their
best interest to keep a handle on the monitoring of civilian
wireless communications inexpensively. This works quite nicely
for law enforcement. As long as the communications are not
secured, there is no need for the lengthy acquisition of a Court
Order to obtain permission to gather intelligence. In a secured
environment, the government would be bound to contact the
Cellular provider for either the escrowed Key for the current
communications in session, or, to tap a certain location in the
switch where communications is in the clear. (for the record,
I'm an opponent of Key Escrow systems. The word trust has
no place within a bureaucracy.)
The CTIA and the Government are quick to point out that the
Cellular subscribers have a right to their privacy.
I say, we citizens have a right to a secure communications
network. Stop stripping away our liberties and allow us our
pursuit of happiness.
Brian Oblivion
oblivion@l0pht.com
