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Overheard in Washington
| Article
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11878 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1994 |
3,093 Words |
| Author
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Jeff Elliott
Jeff Elliott is a free-lance writer who covers science,
health, and environmental issues. He lives in Sebastopol,
California. |
"I was talking to my boyfriend on my cellular phone last night," the dark-haired businesswoman was telling her friend over lunch. "We hang up, and my telephone rings again--I figure it's Richard calling back. Instead, it's a guy that's overheard my entire conversation! Now this creep knows all these intimate details about me--how can he do that?"
He can't . . . legally. Eavesdropping on a cellular telephone is a federal crime, punishable by five years' imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine. But with a $50 scanner and a little know-how, anyone can currently listen in on mobile phones. And that's just the beginning. "For the price of a Mercedes, you can buy equipment that will allow you to tap into regular phone conversations or computer transmissions," says William Spernow of Search, a nonprofit organization that aids police in solving high-tech crimes.
How serious a problem is electronic eavesdropping? We don't know. Rumors abound of corporate spies roaming freeways while scanning the cellular phone channels for stock tips or industrial secrets, but little has been proven. Unlike other types of wiretaps, where alligator clips may be fastened to wires in dusty basements, these signals can be snatched from the air without detection. Occasionally, someone is caught: "There was a London bank that accepted faxes if they recognized the header and signature," Spernow recalls. "Someone intercepted a fax electronically, copied the header and signature, and had the bank transfer $600 million to his own Swiss bank account."
All this may change if the U.S. government has its way. In April 1993, the Clinton administration announced the government-developed "Clipper" chip, a thumbnail-sized component that is part of a device that would attach to a telephone and guarantee absolute privacy when speaking to someone with a similarly equipped phone.
But there are many who insist that, while improved security is needed, Clipper is the wrong approach. Critics worry because the chip is designed so communications can still be overheard by one specific organization: the U.S. government.
The dual-edged sword
Why is the federal government developing telephone components? Part of the reason is the accelerating rate of technology that makes such devices even possible. Five years ago, a computer that could scramble a telephone conversation in real time was the size of a
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