NYC events and cell phones

[Greg Rose]

At 01:53 AM 9/17/2001 +0100, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
>It is possible that damage to basestations or volume of traffic may have
>caused this failure. Possibly, the telco switched it off to maintain
>service. Equally, the FBI/NSA etc may have switched it off, but I don't know
>why they would bother - the encryption is only between the mobile and the
>basestation, and they could pick up plaintalk there much more easily.

There is one very simple reason why they might have wanted the encryption 
switched off. Wiretapping at the base station requires a wiretap order, 
whereas sniffing the airwaves in a matter of national security is something 
the NSA is allowed to do (but they can't get a wiretap order in a hurry).

I don't know any facts in this matter at all, but I wouldn't be surprised 
if someone, somewhere, requested air interface encryption to be turned off.

Greg.

Greg Rose                                       INTERNET: ggr at qualcomm.com
Qualcomm Australia          VOICE:  +61-2-9817 4188   FAX: +61-2-9817 5199
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