All the print and TV coverage of the German PM's phone being monitored
is discussed like this is all new news.

Have none of the journalists ever heard of the diverting of the cable
telegraph traffic during the Great War in 1914, Bletchley Park, all the
spying and tapping of phone and telegraph lines from the beginning, and
the British gathering up all the Enigma machines and then giving them
to their friends and enemies and not letting on that had been cracked.
The systems to gather information have been in operation for years and
has been common knowledge. It is common knowledge that Obama uses a
secure Blackberry, so why do other heads of government not do likewise.

If Angela Merkel is dopey enough to use an insecure phone she should resign.

bazz..if you recall
we delayed digital/phones six moths..so the de decryption..software..could be installed..before any one could make a single call

there IS NO SUCH..THING AS SECRET*
where a phone is..there is someone being listened too
whether its on...or off..[ditto the latest con-puter chips..and those vidio-cameras/microphones on..ya com-puta

even snail/mail was scanned and read..from time immemorial

simply speaking..there are no..secrets
nothing known shall-be concealed
in time..all gets revealed

ps santa now really can watch us all
satan..knows if we been..good or bad

Bazz, I agree.
It just beggars belief that a head of state like Merkel would use an unsecured phone.
I don't know if any mobile phone calls or texts can ever be 'secret' though?

One undergod, I would think the last thing on anyone's mind, while dealing with this scandal, is if a fairy tale 'satan' might be worried about it.

OUG, well there are encryption methods that are just about impossible to crack.
If they are penetrable then by the time it is done you are reading history.
PGP is an example, it was cracked but it took a programmer running 50
machines overnight, if I remember correctly, 3 years to get in.

Yes, Suzie, I think if it had been me I would have shut up and not made
a fuss about it. Might have had a dig at Obama about it, or better
still feed them a lot of rubbish by that means and had a good laugh.

Dear Bazz,

Of course world leaders would be using secure
telephones. They would be well aware of the security
risks involved if they didn't. All nations spy on each
other. This is nothing new. The reaction appears to be
as a result of the media coverage that this sort of
publicity provokes. Australia is currently being accused
of spying on Indonesia by Indonesian authorities.
The reactions will be fairly predictable to that accusation
as well. It sells newspapers.

To all of you just blithely accepting this spying what would you say if it was north korea or iran spying on our leaders and tapping their phones?
After all "all countries do it" right. Would you be so accepting if it was your phone that was bugged.

The justifications from the seppoes that "we need to spy on our friends so we know they are really our friends" is just utter BS. If you use that reasoning where does it end? We will all be able to use the same logic to spy on anyone we want. Our governments already seem to be doing so.

Totalitarianism here we come.

Oh Mikk, you can't be that naive.
Of course Iran is spying on us, they want to know what we are planning
for the Iranian boat people. Knowing our membership of the US/UK/NZ/AU
intel club they would be looking for titbits dropping from our table.
The Russians did that, remember Petrov ?
Polite heads of state do not go public.

If you do not like the thought that big bad Uncle Sam might be reading
what you write here why don't we all exchange our public keys and
then we can unpack it with an off line computer.
Then we can all be paranoid together.

Augustus used to communicate with his general Germanicus his son using
cones around which was wrapped a message. Ahh nothing new under the sun.

Like I said, Ludwig, I wouldn't encourage them.

It appears that already Queensland is morphing into a cosy police state.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-magistrate-hits-out-at-police-state-as-man-held-nine-hours-for-littering/story-fnihsrf2-1226751984446

"A MAGISTRATE has questioned "what this state has come to'' after a young man who dropped a tissue in a mall at 1am was held in the police watchhouse for nine hours.

"I'm appalled that this young man is in custody,'' Brisbane magistrate Chris Callaghan said yesterday, after hearing how long Michael Pennisi, 21, had been held without bail.

"Is this what this state has come to? This is all coming down from the top, it appears to me.'"

"Pennisi said outside court he had not even realised a tissue had dropped from his back pocket as he withdrew his ­wallet. He said as the female council officer, with two police, began to issue a $220 fine he refused to give her his details."

Gawd!......

Sorry, wrong thread.

My first question is of from the mounting group of cry baby's is not spying on others.
Who too does not know this.
After that why would any country put in the hands of contractors its biggest secretes?

But that is the point Belly, it is not a secret !

its a wonder that no one
has raised the private/in confidence..stuff
business seemed so..protective of..

what if your/competitor
knows all your access code/passwords patents..lawyers/papers etc

heck with that info..you KNOW who is front running
you know who-is scamming...you know who to blackmail.

you could stop crime..
yeah/right

those simply knowing..[like spies]..JUST KNOWING
and staying silent..they collude crimes..do treason..in time of war

Conservation's Dirty Secrets.
“The wildlife conservation movement is one of those
unquestioned 'good things' that seem to be above all possible criticism.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=conservation's+dirty+secrets

you WILL..NEVER SEE POLICE POLICING THE REAL Criminals
nor the watchers exposing the real terrorists

but for..your silence

The following is the first paragraph of last weeks column by James Kunstler firstly on spying, then medical.
I must emphasize that this specifically refers to the US, but
do you sense a precursor of where we are going ?
You will find his comment on US hospital charges interesting.

-->
Two Forces and Three Bears

In these climax years of industrial technocratic society, two opposing forces shape the destiny of government: the desperate effort to control everything versus the decline of the ability to carry out that effort. The result will be the loss of legitimacy and the collapse of government from the highest levels, moving downward until the real power to make anything work re-sets at a feasible and appropriate level — probably very local. This dynamic is seen very clearly in three spectacles du jour: the “national security” (spying) mess, government-sponsored accounting fraud in finance, and the ObamaCare rollout.

You can find the rest of the column at;
http://tinyurl.com/le4uffy