Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

Your occasional reminder that you can hear messages for spies, if you know where to listen.

"Whatever the language, wherever the broadcast, the numbers stations all sound the same. Men and women, usually with impeccable diction, methodically rattle off codes that almost no one will comprehend. On many stations, the sequences consist of pre-recorded numbers spliced together. Others use computer-generated voices. Some numbers stations have used children, whose higher-pitched recitations might be easier to hear over the bristling shortwave frequencies.

"The numbers stations have been all around us for decades, equally disturbing whether in English, Polish, or Mandarin. And they have endured, despite advances in electronic communications and encryption, because although they’re accessible to anyone, numbers stations are one of the most secure forms of clandestine communication ever devised."

I find it fascinating: that numbers stations existed in the first place, and that they still exist.
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