🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2o3cq7$ecm@bronze.coil.com>,
Henry Ware <hware@bronze.coil.com> wrote:
>
>How many millions does the Canadian intelligence service spend on signals 
>intercept?  How much much else can they get from their good buddy's the 
>Americans (hi NSA!) and the British?  How much is justified in the name of 
>good government?  Usenet is c. 50 Megs a week.  But a week is over 600 000 
>seconds.  That is 88 characters a second- a i486 runs at about 20 _million_ 
>instructions per second (depending on clock speed, system etc.).   So, 
>given a good program and a decent feed, it's likely that most people reading 
>this could do scan all of Usenet and do so ON THEIR OWN DESKS.  All the time.
>Regularly.  
>
>Its not too paranoid to imagine NSA and similar minded folk of all nations
>and occupations scanning all international traffic.  We know they get paid 
>to do things with a lot lower potential return.  Heck, all this stuff is in 
>some digital form.  Very nice to scan when compared to voice or hardcopy.

	The route around that problem is to use an allusive mode of talking
if the subject is a 'forbidden' one. If a group of people can agree on the
same code quietly, they could appear to be talking about gardening, for
example, and actually be discussing Waco, Homolka, or the IRA.

	Of course eventually, the government catches on and a lot of 
innocent gardeners get rounded up with the perps...

							James Nicoll
-- 
If mail bounces, try jdnicoll@engrg.uwo.ca
"I've seen you flirt. You'd have to get her flat on her back with one foot in
your face."