RE: fwd: Canadian gov't eavesdropping

| From: Eli Brandt  <netmail!ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
| To: cypherpunks list  <cypherpunks@toad.com>
| Subject: fwd: Canadian gov't eavesdropping
| Date: Tuesday, February 01, 1994 7:26PM
|
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| from "E-D-U-P-A-G-E" at Feb 1, 94 8:21 pm
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| > Date:	Tue, 1 Feb 1994 20:21:46 -0500
| [...]
| > HIGH-TECH SNOOP GADGET.  A super-secret branch of the Canadian Security
| > Intelligence Service has awarded three contracts to a Montreal firm to make
| > equipment that can quickly isolate key words and phrases from millions of
| > airborne phone, fax, radio signals and other transmissions. The hardware
| > has the "Orwellian potential to sweep through ... and keep records of all
| > conversations," said one CSIS critic.  (CTV National News, 01/31/94 11:00
| > pm).
|
| Dunno how feasible this kind of keyword recognition presently is,
| but here's another reason to encrypt.

I'd be curious to see how they are going to do voice recognition on 
random conversations. Unless I am very sadly out of date you need to 
teach the pattern matcher individual voices.


|
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|
|    Eli   ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu
|
|
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mike Markley              || The opinions here do not represent the
mmarkley@microsoft.com    || opinions of my employer. Attempts to
			  || associate the two are pointless.

   "I want to look at life, In the available light"
					- Neil Peart -

Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
  sent the the following to cypherpunks:

> > HIGH-TECH SNOOP GADGET.  A super-secret branch of the Canadian
> > Security Intelligence Service has awarded three contracts to a Montreal
> > firm to make equipment that can quickly isolate key words and
> > phrases from millions of airborne phone, fax, radio signals and other
> > transmissions. The hardware has the "Orwellian potential to sweep
> > through ... and keep records of all conversations," said one CSIS critic.
> > (CTV National News, 01/31/94 11:00 pm).
>
> Dunno how feasible this kind of keyword recognition presently is,
> but here's another reason to encrypt.

VERY feasible.  The US government has had this technology for several
years; the Canadians are just catching up.  In the late 80s the US
military launched a satellite to spy on the Russians.  The satellite was
programmed to scan radio transmissions - especially cellular phones -
searching for key words which might be related to military or government
activities.  It seems a few communist party members got a little too
confortable with their cellular phones in their limosuines, and spoke
very loosely about some secret government projects...

They have mentioned this in the series "Space Age" which airs
periodically on PBS.

On Wed, 2 Feb 1994, Mike Markley wrote:

> 
> I'd be curious to see how they are going to do voice recognition on 
> random conversations. Unless I am very sadly out of date you need to 
> teach the pattern matcher individual voices.
> 
Drop by your nearest Apple Macintosh dealer and ask them to show you the 
speach recognition system that comes shipped with the Quadra AV series.

I gave a demo in a crowded room, and a stereo in the background...  
Several people took turns asking the computer what time it was, open the 
control panel, etc.  I think you will be suprised.


-ck

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On Wed, 2 Feb 1994, Mike Markley wrote:

> | From: Eli Brandt  <netmail!ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>

> | > HIGH-TECH SNOOP GADGET.  A super-secret branch of the Canadian Security
> | > Intelligence Service has awarded three contracts to a Montreal firm to mak
e
> | > equipment that can quickly isolate key words and phrases from millions of
> | > airborne phone, fax, radio signals and other transmissions. The hardware
> | > has the "Orwellian potential to sweep through ... and keep records of all
> | > conversations," said one CSIS critic.  (CTV National News, 01/31/94 11:00
> | > pm).
> |
> | Dunno how feasible this kind of keyword recognition presently is,
> | but here's another reason to encrypt.
>
> I'd be curious to see how they are going to do voice recognition on
> random conversations. Unless I am very sadly out of date you need to
> teach the pattern matcher individual voices.
>
You'd be surprised. For example, Plaintalk, a system extension bundled with the
AV-series macintoshes, does voice recognition based solely on phonemes.
Although it is not perfect yet, I can personally attest to having walked up to a
model on display in a store, tried a few simple commands by voice, and had no
problem with recognition. The technology _is_ there.
Jim Wise
wisej@acf4.nyu.edu
jaw7254@acfcluster.nyu.edu
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