How funny. This was the exact same question I had after reading the two articles.

Perhaps extra terrestrial broadcasts are being sent via spread spectrum technology in an effort to communicate only with civilizations that have reached a significantly higher level of technology? I mean it's taken us almost 100 years to get to this point since Marconi developed the wireless telegraph.

Of course it's really easy to get locked into one paradigm whether you're talking about radio communications or human ideas and thought patterns. For all we know serious interstellar communications involves a completely different method.