Wiretapping 101

[silver_corolla]

The infamous wiretapping CDs, recordings and now even ring tones involving the controversial Garci conversations are making their way around the Philippines and even abroad. Some people think being wiretapped, especially if you are the President of the Philippines or anybody famous for that matter, is amusing until it happens to you. Most people believe that because they use GSM cellphones and the signal is digital, their communications are secure.

During the analog AMPS days, monitoring a cellphone was as easy as buying a radio scanner from Radio Shack for about $450. During that time, engineering students would have fun eavesdropping on the romantic interludes of their fellow students. In order to avoid cloning, cellphones went digital.

But is digital secure? GSM is digital, but so is CD music, VCD, DVD and even satellite. All it takes to listen to a cellular conversation is the right receiver and decoder. How does the intelligence community listen to conversations?

There are actually three ways: environment or by bugging the surroundings, transmission or by listening to the signals as they are transmitted over wires or cell sites, and central office or at the facilities of the telecom company. Bugging used to involve the placement of a small transmitter in areas frequented by the target and receiving this signal some distance away. More modern means include bouncing a laser beam off the window glass and decoding the sound from the vibrations of the glass.

This is not used so much anymore because of the considerable set-up time. Transmission monitoring of land lines is as easy as attaching alligator clips to a telephone line and listening to the conversation like a party line.

With GSM cellular, a device such as a GSM Interceptor 900 is used. This device used to cost $500,000. It can be programmed to record the conversations and SMS or text messages of designated cellphone numbers. The device operates by listening to nearby cellsites, about 250 meters in the city and up to 10 km in rural areas for the cellphone number of the targets.

Once it detects that the target is calling or is being called, it starts recording. Other techniques involve decoding the microwave signals between cellsites, but because of the increased use of fiber optics and the large number of cell sites, this is impractical. Central office monitoring is done by tapping the line at the facilities of the telephone company.

This is very easy for analog land lines, which switch all lines in a given area through a local exchange, but is quite difficult for cellular, because switching is dynamic based on the system load. A cellphone conversation in Cavite may be controlled from as far away as Manila if the local facilities are congested. So how do you avoid being monitored?

The US during World War II used Navajo Indians who spoke a language the Japanese did not know. During the Mindanao war in the 70s, radio operators spoke Kapampangan because the MNLF did not have any Kapampangan troops. But because translators are a dime a dozen nowadays, using an unknown language may no longer be practicable, unless you invent a new one.

Scramblers may also come in handy but are rather expensive since both the caller and the receiving party should be equipped with one.

By using scramblers, the conversation becomes difficult if not impossible to decipher for anybody eavesdropping or illegally recording it because the voices become muffled. Scramblers may be practical for certain government offices but not for ordinary folks.

For common folks like us, when engaged in a controversial or delicate conversation that could put you in trouble if it leaks out, try modulating or raising the pitch of your voice. That way, you can easily deny it was your voice.

[mbt]

A hah!! ikaw yata yung source nung hello garci recordings ha bwahahahaha

[silver_corolla]

A hah!! ikaw yata yung source nung hello garci recordings ha bwahahahaha

:oops: .... atin-atin lang 'to ha?!

[yebo]

most politicians are wiretap proof. they speak through their a$$ holes and the sound can be deciphered only by someone who is another, err, politician.

[Stuckinstock]

ahaha.. nice one yebo.

sale na daw ang mga cellphone sa malacanang...

[falken]

most politicians are wiretap proof. they speak through their a$$ holes and the sound can be deciphered only by someone who is another, err, politician.

That's why we can't undertanding anything a politician's yakking about.

[5Speed]

harharharharharhar!!!!

[stinkaboy]

meron ako ng ringtone :D

[boybi]

most politicians are wiretap proof. they speak through their a$$ holes and the sound can be deciphered only by someone who is another, err, politician.

maybe they're communicating by the way their farts smell

[IceColdBeer]

most politicians are wiretap proof. they speak through their a$$ holes and the sound can be deciphered only by someone who is another, err, politician.

I thought it can only be deciphered by a$$lickers hehehe