Apparently there is a political balloon being floated in the UK for a massive database of details of all calls to be kept for a period of years, as an aid to the "war on terror". This does not (yet) include content, but where's there's smoke...
What's the current state of the art as regards commercial, publically available encryption of voice calls? I assume that if you were using a computer-based VIOP system that it would be easily possible to do this quite effectively, but what is available for POTS and mobile telephones, and how good is it?
***** Moderator's Note *****I saw a demo on TV a few years ago, where Phil Zimmerman, who created the PGP program, showed that he could encrypt a voice call over the internet. You'll have to find the details, but the chances are that there's a way to do it with open-source software.
However, unless you're employed by a government, the call detail records will point a finger at the endpoints of the call, and thus (usually) at you. If encrypting phone calls is illegal in your country, the content of a call might not matter.
It all boils down to what an intelligence agent would call an "Equities" issue, i.e., how much you reveal by your actions or speech compared to what you gain. If you encrypt a voice call during which you talk about the weather, and thereby risk a jail term, then you've lost the equity debate. OTOH, if your call concerns the whereabouts of people who are in an "underground railroad", you might feel that the risk of encryption is justified.
Bill Horne Temporary Moderator
(Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!)