Radio Espionage Publication Silenced by UK "D" Notice System
October 15, 9:00 a.m. 2001 GMT

LONDON -- Newspaper articles about Shortwave espionage have been pulled by the
UK "D" notice system. This system exists to silence discussion of any subject
that might jeopardize the defense (hence the "D") of the United Kingdom.
"Its totally understandable; spies operating abroad must be protected." says
Akin Fernandez, director of the company that publishes "The Conet Project", an
encyclopedic book and quadruple CD which describes the operation and catalogues
the sounds of espionage "Numbers Stations".
These obscure shortwave radio stations are believed to be used by intelligence
agencies world wide to communicate with agents in the field. "If details of the
way that Numbers Stations are publicized at this delicate moment, anyone
carrying or listening to a portable shortwave radio would be suspect" he said.
This is true, but would clearly work in reverse, spreading mistrust within the
ranks of the Taliban, who will without doubt be listening to international news
reports via shortwave radio.
There has been speculation about hidden messages in pornographic images, and the
video messages that have been coming out of the secret camp of Usama Bin Laden
have also been rumored to contain encoded messages for "sleepers"; operatives
planted in target countries waiting for the command to carry out more suicide
attacks.
"Its more likely that the Taleban are using low tech to deliver their messages"
says Fernandez, "It is a simple matter to transmit a 100% secure message via
Shortwave Numbers Station, to any city in the world, for anonymous reception by
an operative".
Asked if there were any ways to decrypt the messages Fernandez said, "The
consensus is that these messages are unbreakable without the recipients code
book. Once you have that, you have entry into all of the messages".
Numbers Stations are transmitted in a staggering number of languages and
formats. The voices of men women and children are used to deliver the messages,
which are composed of strings of letters or digits. The stations are often
preceded by music, from folk tunes such as "The Lincolnshire Poacher" and "The
Swedish Rhapsody" to "Don't Cry for me Argentina". There is a station that
transmits in Arabic, but its origin is unknown.
Numbers Stations are a powerful method of anonymous and secure communication.
They can be received by anyone with a simple inexpensive pocket radio that can
be bought anywhere in the world. No special equipment is needed to unscramble
the messages other than a pencil and a piece of paper.
"It is astounding when you first hear that Shortwave is still being used in this
way, but when you think about it, the way that it works is so perfect there is
no reason to change the system at all".
When questioned about how he knew that the "D" notice had been applied to The
Conet Project Fernandez replied, "We were informed by someone that I can only
describe as a Blue Beaked Canary". http://www.dnotice.org.uk/dan3.htm
 http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~irdial/conet.htm