BS: Phone a Dictator

Subject: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 10:21 AM

Cloak and dagger stuff:

"… people who have discovered a remarkable statistic: that when 20 percent of a population has secure phone communications, dictators get overthrown. …"

Add:

"Sendo, until Motorola bought it out of bankruptcy today, was Britain's only mobile phone maker. It was a minnow amongst sharks, …"

Add:

"The plan is simple: to create a $20 mobile phone and make it available in Africa. Mobile phone technology does the rest, and, it is hoped, several dictators will find themselves out of a job."

Details at: Motorola's 'Africa Phone'

Could it really be that simple?

Do note the closing line at the link: "The project is still not publicly visible, and, fascinating though it may be, hard information eludes public gaze."

Standard disclaimer: I don't know this commentator by reputation, but eWeek is generally a "respectable" source.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 10:33 AM

Interesting idea, but I don't think Mobile phones are very secure.

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 11:54 AM

They could be. Packet and frequency hopping would be a start.

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 12:23 PM

"Secure phone ownership" meaning phones the government can't tap into? Where do they have a phone system like that?

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 01:17 PM

Phome a dictator's children. Otherwise known as dictator tots.

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 06:57 PM

Sorry, I thought they had run a new line to the White House...

Subject: RE: BS: Phone a Dictator
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 08:46 PM

Ithink it is a great theory; I would love to see it proved out in practice.

A