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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Fri Jun 21 20:20:02 2002
I was doing some research for a new character, and decided that whilst he was Russian with
a background in intelligence, I wouldn't make him ex-KGB but instead ex-GRU, military
intelligence.

Whilst reading up on the GRU I noticed that they operated two SIGINT facilities overseas,
one at Lourdes, Cuba- that is closing- and the other Cam Ranh Bay- Viet Nam.

But I digress. The question is, would centres like these be needed in the 2060's? With
more telephone/matrix messages going by untappable fiber optic lines, surveillance
satellites and the matrix being worldwide allowing you to hack into hosts from anywhere
you like, would they be made redundant?

For our games we're keeping them as they're useful, but I was just wondering what peoples
views were.

Simon
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Da Twink Daddy)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Sat Jun 22 12:25:01 2002
----- Original Message -----
From: <flakjacket@***********.com>


> The question is, would centres like these be needed in the 2060's? With
more
> telephone/matrix messages going by untappable fiber optic lines,
surveillance satellites and the matrix
> being worldwide allowing you to hack into hosts from anywhere you like,
would they be made
> redundant?

Some (a very few) hosts might acutally no have a connection to the open
matrix. Although, if the people using it want to send e-mail it'll have
(at the most secure) a teleporting, vanishing SAN. Remember the security
of a system is inversely proportional to it's usability.

However, there's a lot to be said for the "word on the street" and having
face-time with people. Also, they might be useful for supporting double
agents.

In short, I think they would definately be around in 2060.

Da Twink Daddy
datwinkdaddy@*******.com
ICQ# 514984
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Danyel Woods)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Sun Jun 23 04:55:01 2002
Quoth flakjacket:

<<<SLICE>>>
>But I digress. The question is, would centres like these be needed in
>the 2060's? With more telephone/matrix messages going by untappable
>fiber optic lines, surveillance satellites and the matrix being
>worldwide allowing you to hack into hosts from anywhere you like,
>would they be made redundant?

<MODE_ENGAGE: nitpick>
Actually, according to SR near-canon (the novel 'Shadowplay'), fibre-optic
lines *can* be tapped, and the traffic even monitored and recorded from a
distance, along the same lines as how someone with a sensitive-enough
magnetic-anomaly-detector can read the electrical impulses travelling along
RL copper wires. Don't ask me how they does it in SR, they jes' does it -
and have been since at least mid-2054, apparently. Don't'cha just love the
SOTA curve?
<MODE_TERMINATE: nitpick>

And IM(ns)HO, yes, SIGINT stations *are* important - in fact, more important
than ever, for the very reasons you listed. They may well include a whole
bunch of deckers and other esoterica, but the fact remains that (at least
for someone with the resources and obligations of a nation-state) putting
all those functions together under one roof in a few given locations is in
many ways more efficient than scattering them across a hundred or more
separate locations. Remember, SIGINT/ELINT equipment is highly expensive
and bleeding-edge sexy, so running just a few main centres makes them easier
to secure, if nothing else; after all, who wants all their neatest toys
falling into the 'wrong' hands?

Dissenting opinions, anyone?
-> Danyel


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Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Thorger_SÃŒnert)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Sun Jun 23 05:45:01 2002
From: "Danyel Woods" <matryoshka_01@*******.com>
> <MODE_ENGAGE: nitpick>
> Actually, according to SR near-canon (the novel 'Shadowplay'), fibre-optic
> lines *can* be tapped, and the traffic even monitored and recorded from a
> distance, along the same lines as how someone with a sensitive-enough
> magnetic-anomaly-detector can read the electrical impulses travelling
along
> RL copper wires. Don't ask me how they does it in SR, they jes' does it -
> and have been since at least mid-2054, apparently. Don't'cha just love
the
> SOTA curve?
> <MODE_TERMINATE: nitpick>

I would assume that they the tap into the signal booster which have to be
integrated into fiber optics if you want to use them over long distances.
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Dan Turek)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Sun Jun 23 13:15:01 2002
>From: "Danyel Woods" <matryoshka_01@*******.com>
> > Actually, according to SR near-canon (the novel 'Shadowplay'),
>fibre-optic lines *can* be tapped, and the traffic even monitored

>I would assume that they the tap into the signal booster which have to be
>integrated into fiber optics if you want to use them over long distances.

I thought there was some kind of prism (that exists today) that allows you
to tap a fiber optic cable. Usually they don't say fiber optic is
untappable, just that you can't really do it without interrupting the
service (to install such a device I believe). I'm sure some kind poster has
a website link for this?....


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Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Gurth)
Subject: Viability/Use of Foreign Listening Posts
Date: Mon Jun 24 07:45:01 2002
According to Dan Turek, on Sun, 23 Jun 2002 the word on the street was...

> > > Actually, according to SR near-canon (the novel 'Shadowplay'),
> > > fibre-optic lines *can* be tapped, and the traffic even monitored
[snip]
> I thought there was some kind of prism (that exists today) that allows
> you to tap a fiber optic cable. Usually they don't say fiber optic is
> untappable, just that you can't really do it without interrupting the
> service (to install such a device I believe). I'm sure some kind poster
> has a website link for this?....

The novel Danyel referred to ("Shadowplay" by Nigel Findley) is about a
different way to tap into fiber-optic lines, without breaking them -- sort
of like listening in on the traffic on electric cables by looking at the
electromagnetic fields they give off.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Little ever changes, if anything at all
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
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