plover's Journal: Story submission

BBC NewsNight is carrying this story about a how satellite enthusiast John Locker has been picking up unencrypted video feeds from the spy planes watching the Balkans. He said he spent months e-mailing and faxing the U.S. and allied military officials warning them of this, but when they did not respond, he went public. It reveals interesting details about the spy planes' capabilities, as well as raising the obvious question: why unencrypted?

Why not unencrypted?

[Rupert]

It's not like the information isn't available to anyone else who wants to fly a plane over the area.

It kind of reminds me of the stink in England right now over the company that sells aerial maps of the whole country, including GCHQ, Sellafield and Fylingdale. Some clueless MPs want the maps pulled. MI5 want the maps to stay for sale, as it's easier to monitor who's using a credit card at a single company than to monitor the airspace above a half dozen different locations.