Apparently Nato and the Pentagon are joining the rush to open up information. Apparently anyone with a high-end sattelite dish can now enjoy a relaxed zap between Saturday afternoon football and the latest surveillance snaps.
"A satellite enthusiast said Thursday he had tried to warn NATO ( news - web sites) that surveillance pictures it took from spy planes over the Balkans could be watched by anyone with basic equipment.John Locker, the satellite enthusiast, said he stumbled across the images, which were beamed over an insecure satellite link and were not encrypted, while watching television in November. The set was hooked up to a satellite dish.
"I wasn't tapping into anything. The pictures were freely available and anyone could see them," Locker told British Broadcasting Corp. television.
"They were from a commercial satellite, sending pictures just as any commercial satellite would. In fact it was easier to see these pictures than pay-per-view films or even Saturday sports," said Locker, who's from the Liverpool area."The U.S. military moves unclassified video via commercial satellites on contract. The military does not send or transmit classified information or data by unsecure means," said Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin."Raw video is information. Information does not equal intelligence. There is no evidence this video imagery has been used in any way that is harmful to the United States and NATO.""
Source: Yahoo News LINK
I'm glad to see that over there at the Pentagon they are finally getting the message that openness is good, but....is my life really in safe hands?
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