In Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49, the story centered on a worldwide conspiracy stretching back centuries and which utilized a private postal system called Trystero. And, just like Pynchon’s fictionalized postal network, today in the real world, privacy advocates, pirates, anarchists, outlaws, drug cartels and others have developed their own private networks called darknets to move their information around the globe in furtherance of their own interests.
One of the most striking examples of a darknet comes from Mexico where it was recently discovered that the the Zetas drug cartel has set up several private cell phone and radio repeater systems in the state of Veracruz as well as along 500 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. Some portions of this system were in remote areas and were powered by solar cells, and used commercially available components. And, while it must be assumed that the tech was fairly easy to obtain, the know-how was a bit more specialized. It is suspected that perhaps as many as two dozen communications workers have been kidnapped in Mexico by the cartel and forced to work putting these systems together. While a few were later released, most ended up dead or simply never seen again.
No comments:
Post a Comment