Seen on Archive.org – Who knew one-way communication would be desirable?
For more than 30 years the Shortwave radio spectrum has been used by the worlds intelligence agencies to transmit secret messages. These messages are transmitted by hundreds of “Numbers Stations”.
Here is a SAMPLE MP3:
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Shortwave Numbers Stations are a perfect method of anonymous, one way communication. Spies located anywhere in the world can be communicated to by their masters via small, locally available, and unmodified Shortwave receivers.
The encryption system used by Numbers Stations, known as a “one time pad” is unbreakable. Combine this with the fact that it is almost impossible to track down the message recipients once they are inserted into the enemy country, it becomes clear just how powerful the Numbers Station system is.
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4 Comments
In the movie Orpheus, one of the characters writes poetry based on the short wave transmissions. Maybe someone should do that soon…or some sort of number station theater.
Is THIS the movie you’re talking about?
Orpheus by Cocteau?
I always thought that making a production out of miscommunication would be a great piece. Non sequiturs, palindromes, and other kinds of word-games, followed by EVP and Conet broadcasts would make for great confusion and comedy.
That is the movie I am talking about!
I like the idea of blending wordgames and conet broadcasts, giving it two level of encryptian perahps.
[...] Jaki Levy and I had a bit of a blog comment conversation a few weeks ago about Numbers broadcast stations. These short wave radio stations are used by spies to broadcast streams of computer generated voices reading lists of numbers or letters. I think a similar application would be interesting in internet video streaming. This time, however, you could broadcast encrypted video: flashing lights, freakish scan lines, images remincent of 1980’s video art accompanied by audio. These images, and the accompanied audio, could be used to transfer secret messages. [...]