[00:05.630 --> 00:10.510]  The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
[00:11.470 --> 00:15.990]  I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a call.
[00:16.630 --> 00:18.850]  We couldn't get much worse.
[00:21.650 --> 00:24.290]  Bum Diddly Bump, but the best it's made for worst.
[00:24.850 --> 00:26.790]  I hope that's understood.
[00:26.990 --> 00:27.850]  Bum Diddly Bump!
[00:37.310 --> 00:42.330]  Just past 7 o'clock here on radio station WBAI New York, 99.5 FM.
[00:43.050 --> 00:44.910]  Off the Hook is the name of the program.
[00:45.210 --> 00:46.390]  And Emanuel, are you there?
[00:46.830 --> 00:47.410]  I'm here.
[00:47.510 --> 00:47.930]  Can you hear me?
[00:48.090 --> 00:48.730]  I can hear you.
[00:48.830 --> 00:49.570]  Where is there?
[00:50.170 --> 00:51.110]  Here is Madrid.
[00:51.650 --> 00:52.810]  That's where I'm sitting right now.
[00:52.950 --> 00:58.750]  Actually, I'm sitting on a balcony right by the main train station here in Madrid.
[00:58.750 --> 01:02.270]  It's very noisy, a lot of traffic outside, people running around.
[01:02.490 --> 01:03.230]  Great place.
[01:03.410 --> 01:03.850]  A lot of fun.
[01:04.070 --> 01:11.130]  It's a little chilly, but I figured, you know, the best place to do the show would be right from out here on the balcony, where you can hear the actual sounds.
[01:11.410 --> 01:12.510]  I don't know if you can hear any of them, though.
[01:12.810 --> 01:13.830]  We can hear some.
[01:14.390 --> 01:14.750]  Okay.
[01:15.410 --> 01:17.910]  And Bernie asks, you're also joining us from Philadelphia, correct?
[01:18.170 --> 01:19.510]  Yes, all the way from Philadelphia.
[01:19.930 --> 01:20.990]  Are you sitting on a balcony?
[01:22.050 --> 01:24.290]  I'm sitting at a window.
[01:24.430 --> 01:24.870]  Does that count?
[01:25.930 --> 01:27.650]  I'm looking out over the city skyline.
[01:28.350 --> 01:28.710]  Okay.
[01:28.850 --> 01:30.430]  Well, you know, I'm doing the same thing here in Madrid.
[01:30.470 --> 01:31.190]  It's nighttime.
[01:31.190 --> 01:32.550]  I guess it's nighttime where you are, too.
[01:33.550 --> 01:36.530]  But it's actually 1 o'clock in the morning, where we are.
[01:37.610 --> 01:40.510]  So I guess we have a bit of an edge as far as that goes.
[01:41.070 --> 01:42.790]  And who else do we have with us in the studio tonight?
[01:43.270 --> 01:45.170]  We also have Redbird.
[01:46.350 --> 01:47.010]  Hey, Redbird.
[01:47.170 --> 01:47.330]  Hey.
[01:48.130 --> 01:48.670]  How's it going?
[01:48.670 --> 01:50.490]  Well, and we have Jim.
[01:51.170 --> 01:54.190]  And interestingly enough, we're sitting in front of a couple of windows.
[01:54.370 --> 01:56.330]  Unfortunately, they only look out on other studios.
[01:56.850 --> 02:01.310]  As it should be, because we don't want the rest of the world seeing what goes on inside the station.
[02:02.690 --> 02:07.890]  And we also have with us Mike DiFilippo, who is engineering for us.
[02:07.890 --> 02:10.690]  And we want to thank him very much for all the help.
[02:10.850 --> 02:12.350]  Hello out there, Emmanuel Goldstein.
[02:12.770 --> 02:14.170]  Thanks so much for coming in.
[02:14.830 --> 02:15.290]  My pleasure.
[02:15.290 --> 02:18.150]  This is the first of three shows where I'm going to be in weird places.
[02:18.270 --> 02:19.550]  Now, Bernie, you're going to be in a...
[02:19.550 --> 02:22.890]  Well, I don't want to say a weird place in a bad way, but just an unusual place.
[02:23.110 --> 02:26.310]  You're going to be in, I believe, Thailand in a week or two?
[02:26.830 --> 02:37.290]  Yes, I'll be in Bangkok and Koh Chang, which is a remote island, and the island of Phoket, which is spelled P-H-U-K-E-T and pronounced differently by some people.
[02:39.510 --> 02:45.090]  Okay, I guess there's only a certain number of ways we can pronounce it on this radio show, so we'll pronounce it that way.
[02:47.190 --> 02:48.350]  Bernie, when will you be there?
[02:49.290 --> 02:51.710]  I will be leaving on the 29th, and it's a long flight.
[02:51.890 --> 02:57.550]  I'll be arriving on New Year's Eve around noon, just in time for the festivities.
[02:58.830 --> 03:02.690]  Okay, so will you actually be there during the show?
[03:03.070 --> 03:04.670]  Yes, the following Wednesday.
[03:05.030 --> 03:07.670]  I believe I don't have a calendar in front of me.
[03:07.890 --> 03:11.490]  But there's a Wednesday, I will be there.
[03:11.750 --> 03:15.350]  Well, if I'm not mistaken, that Wednesday is the 29th, so won't you be in an airplane?
[03:16.250 --> 03:20.310]  But, well, I'll be there more than a week, so I'll be there at least one Wednesday.
[03:21.410 --> 03:24.070]  Maybe I'll be back in the studio then, and maybe you'll be in Thailand.
[03:24.210 --> 03:24.570]  But you know what?
[03:24.610 --> 03:27.390]  The listeners don't really need to know our travel itineraries right now.
[03:27.990 --> 03:30.290]  Suffice to say that we'll be spread out all over the globe.
[03:30.490 --> 03:32.430]  So if something happens, we'll be there.
[03:33.770 --> 03:37.970]  We did receive a primer on obscenity from some lawyers the other week.
[03:38.110 --> 03:40.870]  It did not cover the pronunciation of Thai islands, though.
[03:41.330 --> 03:41.650]  Okay.
[03:42.370 --> 03:47.150]  Yeah, we constantly are getting these little updates from well-meaning lawyers who just want to keep us safe.
[03:47.150 --> 03:48.230]  We appreciate that.
[03:48.730 --> 04:01.650]  If you have advice for us, something to send us to keep us out of trouble, or to get us into more trouble, please send us an email to othat2600.com, or alternatively, you can send us paper mail.
[04:01.910 --> 04:07.010]  The address is off-the-hook here at WBAI, 120 Wall Street, New York, New York.
[04:07.210 --> 04:09.110]  1-0-0-0-5.
[04:09.490 --> 04:10.270]  That's correct.
[04:10.490 --> 04:12.610]  And we have a lot of interesting news tonight.
[04:13.170 --> 04:17.190]  You guys hear about the merger between Sprint and Nextel.
[04:17.430 --> 04:18.230]  Oh, did we?
[04:18.670 --> 04:22.110]  Creating the third largest telephone company, no less.
[04:23.570 --> 04:24.690]  Go ahead, Mike.
[04:24.830 --> 04:37.910]  In fact, I was sitting on the subway earlier today, and the gentleman next to me was reading apparently a PowerPoint presentation about the merger, which I got to learn by reading over his shoulder, which is very rude and you should never do.
[04:37.910 --> 04:44.090]  So I got to learn about all the money that will be saved, which I think means people are going to fire as a result of this wire.
[04:44.150 --> 04:47.810]  You had this opportunity, and you didn't ask this man to be a guest here?
[04:48.270 --> 04:48.610]  No.
[04:48.770 --> 04:49.030]  You're terrible.
[04:49.270 --> 04:49.430]  Yeah.
[04:49.670 --> 04:50.770]  Well, I had an opportunity, too.
[04:50.870 --> 04:59.070]  Somebody SMSed me the info for the conference call that was announcing it specifically, where I could have listened in and heard it live.
[04:59.070 --> 04:59.590]  But you know what?
[04:59.590 --> 05:01.290]  It just wasn't really that exciting to me.
[05:01.550 --> 05:04.330]  I'm here in Spain, and I didn't really care about Sprint all that much.
[05:05.090 --> 05:09.110]  There's no presence of Sprint or Nextel here in this country or, I think, on this continent.
[05:10.310 --> 05:13.510]  Everybody uses GSM phones, and it works quite well.
[05:13.510 --> 05:14.370]  Thank you very much.
[05:14.610 --> 05:17.270]  But, you know, this merger does raise some intriguing questions.
[05:17.370 --> 05:22.850]  I know Verizon at one point was interested in acquiring Sprint, which would have left Nextel kind of out in the cold.
[05:24.090 --> 05:28.970]  Verizon and Sprint both use, am I correct, CDMA, and Nextel uses IDEN?
[05:29.550 --> 05:37.050]  Yes, and they're completely incompatible technologies, and they use different frequency bands, different handsets.
[05:37.230 --> 05:38.990]  There's no way to make them work together.
[05:39.130 --> 05:44.370]  So Sprint's going to have to completely gut Nextel, replace all the equipment, and replace everybody's phone.
[05:44.850 --> 05:47.550]  And it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me from a technical standpoint.
[05:48.470 --> 05:51.950]  And you're a Sprint customer, Bernie, so this is... how is this going to affect you?
[05:53.430 --> 05:58.270]  Well, who knows if my rates will go up or not, as they try to pay for all this nonsense.
[05:58.610 --> 06:09.150]  But I imagine they will divert resources away from their existing CDMA network to try to build up a whole other one at Nextel.
[06:09.350 --> 06:19.430]  So I can't think... I think I'm going to be sort of paid no attention to, as an existing Sprint customer, as they try to get everybody else set up from Nextel on their network.
[06:19.430 --> 06:21.870]  But this is probably going to take a couple of years, easily.
[06:22.330 --> 06:27.290]  So if they don't get into financial trouble trying it, at which point Verizon might buy them.
[06:27.970 --> 06:32.190]  So what you're saying, basically, is that they'll be paying no attention to you, so nothing's really going to change.
[06:32.750 --> 06:33.110]  Right.
[06:33.170 --> 06:35.530]  It'll be just as bad as it has always been.
[06:36.150 --> 06:36.930]  Well, you know...
[06:36.930 --> 06:37.750]  It's not worse.
[06:38.370 --> 06:43.330]  Well, I don't think anybody's questioning that, you know, whatever company this turns into is going to suck.
[06:43.350 --> 06:46.130]  I think they're just questioning how much it's going to suck.
[06:46.130 --> 06:51.310]  Because, I tell you, the two phone companies I hear the most complaints about are Sprint PCS and Nextel.
[06:51.950 --> 06:54.570]  And it's just amazing to me that the two of them are now one.
[06:54.890 --> 06:58.490]  The only good thing I see out of that is the voice quality.
[06:58.630 --> 07:03.130]  The vocoders that Nextel uses, they're really poor.
[07:03.250 --> 07:06.070]  Everybody I talk to on a Nextel phone sounds absolutely terrible.
[07:06.190 --> 07:10.370]  And it will get somewhat better when they switch to Sprint vocoders.
[07:10.370 --> 07:14.350]  So, Nextel people will be more intelligible.
[07:14.550 --> 07:20.510]  And both companies have this push-to-talk technology, like where you use your phone like a walkie-talkie.
[07:21.130 --> 07:22.770]  Nextel does not have a lock on that.
[07:23.110 --> 07:27.030]  CDMA, the most recent revisions of CDMA support it.
[07:27.170 --> 07:30.410]  You can buy a handset at Sprint that lets you do the walkie-talkie thing.
[07:30.810 --> 07:32.270]  Oh, dear God.
[07:32.270 --> 07:36.790]  Are you telling me that every Sprint PCS customer is going to be walking around with those stupid two-way walkie-talkies?
[07:37.070 --> 07:39.190]  Only if you buy a handset that supports it.
[07:39.190 --> 07:40.150]  And most of them don't.
[07:40.290 --> 07:45.210]  I think they're mostly just people that are contractors and people that really need to have that, really use that.
[07:45.310 --> 07:47.210]  Because I don't really like to do that much.
[07:47.230 --> 07:49.770]  Now, Bernie, ride the Long Island Railroad, okay?
[07:49.770 --> 07:53.350]  And you'll find out that everybody seems to be using those damn things now.
[07:53.530 --> 07:55.370]  And, you know, I've got to hand it to Nextel.
[07:55.510 --> 07:58.230]  I thought people talking on the train on cell phones was bad enough.
[07:58.390 --> 08:02.130]  They've managed to make it worse by being able to hear both sides of the conversation now.
[08:02.430 --> 08:03.050]  It's horrible.
[08:04.710 --> 08:05.650]  And it's very loud.
[08:06.250 --> 08:07.350]  Yeah, it's extremely loud.
[08:07.350 --> 08:10.550]  You think you're sitting next to a cop every time somebody uses one of those things, too.
[08:10.590 --> 08:17.030]  Yeah, on a related story, the FCC is trying to...
[08:17.030 --> 08:24.070]  And the FAA are working on making cell phone use possible on airliners, commercial airliners.
[08:24.670 --> 08:27.310]  They're testing various technologies now.
[08:27.310 --> 08:38.030]  But basically, what it's probably going to come down to is there's going to be a microcell in an airplane, basically a small cell site in the plane, that people will be able to access from their cell phone.
[08:38.070 --> 08:45.250]  They'll probably have to have something that's compatible with the different carriers' phones and protocols and frequencies and that sort of thing.
[08:45.410 --> 08:53.530]  And then it'll be linked by probably some sort of air-to-ground communications link, like the existing air phones do, that cost about $3.99 a minute.
[08:54.430 --> 09:03.370]  But I just can't wait until I'm sitting in coach between two other people on their cell phone jacking away, or business class, for that matter.
[09:03.510 --> 09:04.590]  I've never flown business class.
[09:04.830 --> 09:11.410]  So can you wait next time you fly a long flight, like to Spain, being between two people on their cell phone the whole time?
[09:11.890 --> 09:14.870]  Oh, it's really going to make airline travel even worse.
[09:15.010 --> 09:19.930]  And I have to tell you, you know, on my trip over here, the airline I flew was so cramped.
[09:20.210 --> 09:21.470]  It was a comedy.
[09:21.710 --> 09:24.710]  It really was trying to figure out how to manipulate things.
[09:24.790 --> 09:25.810]  I was trying to use my laptop.
[09:26.030 --> 09:27.850]  I was trying to read a book.
[09:28.050 --> 09:31.790]  I was trying to take whatever the stewardesses were giving me as they were walking by.
[09:32.170 --> 09:35.990]  And I was also trying to, you know, move out of the way of various people.
[09:36.170 --> 09:38.790]  I really, you know, I never seemed to get it right.
[09:38.790 --> 09:41.730]  The last trip I took, I wanted to sit by the window.
[09:42.710 --> 09:48.050]  And I wound up sitting next to this really, really large person that I had to squeeze by occasionally to go to the bathroom.
[09:48.210 --> 09:51.770]  I decided, okay, I don't want to go through that again, so I'll sit in the aisle this time.
[09:51.850 --> 09:56.010]  And, of course, the exact opposite happened, where the person next to me had to constantly be getting up.
[09:56.130 --> 10:02.650]  And I also had the person in the aisle next to me deciding to stand for the whole trip, which made me very nervous.
[10:02.890 --> 10:08.530]  And then the guy in front of me decided to be the only person in the area to lean all the way back for the entire trip.
[10:08.790 --> 10:13.070]  So leaving you with a little more than half an inch to work with.
[10:13.230 --> 10:22.910]  So adding cell phones on top of that, you're going to have to give people narcotics to knock them out completely so they don't have to be conscious for any of this.
[10:23.110 --> 10:32.750]  Well, it seems to me that what they're saying is that these cell phones are going to cost $2 a minute to use, which is the same rate as the overpriced air phones they already have.
[10:33.390 --> 10:34.430]  So I'm hoping...
[10:34.430 --> 10:35.170]  No, they're worth $3.99 a minute now.
[10:35.310 --> 10:37.110]  The air phones are $3.99 a minute.
[10:37.110 --> 10:38.150]  $4 a minute?
[10:38.550 --> 10:43.670]  I'm hoping that the cell phones will be similarly expensive so that very few people will choose to use them.
[10:43.850 --> 10:45.270]  I think that would be fine with me.
[10:45.810 --> 10:49.410]  Yeah, and you know, it wouldn't be so bad if people used them in a civilized way.
[10:49.530 --> 11:01.810]  Like, for instance, I don't know, Bernie, if you remember this, but riding the U-Bahn in Berlin, the subway, people use cell phones while the trains are moving underground, under tunnels, because there's signal throughout.
[11:02.010 --> 11:05.410]  And you can't really tell people are talking on the phone because they're talking quietly.
[11:06.790 --> 11:13.670]  I don't know if it's an American thing or just an obnoxious thing, where people bellow into the phones, and you just can't think when you're next to them.
[11:14.570 --> 11:16.930]  I think it's an American thing, not a technology thing.
[11:17.210 --> 11:18.490]  Well, also, you have to remember...
[11:18.490 --> 11:22.870]  Well, I mean, I guess with the subways here, that wouldn't work so well, since it's so loud, they'd have to be yelling to hear anything.
[11:23.090 --> 11:26.530]  But, I mean, because in Germany, the subway was quite quiet in a lot of places.
[11:26.870 --> 11:27.950]  Sounds like the voice of RedHack.
[11:27.950 --> 11:28.490]  Yeah, it is.
[11:28.930 --> 11:29.370]  Welcome.
[11:29.730 --> 11:29.990]  Hi.
[11:30.610 --> 11:40.230]  And, yeah, so cell phones are, I don't know, the future in some way, or doom in some way as well.
[11:41.410 --> 11:45.810]  I want to point out, this points out a delinquency that we've had for the past three hopes.
[11:45.910 --> 11:50.690]  We've meant to have a panel on cell phone blocking devices and haven't had it.
[11:50.690 --> 11:58.350]  So, by the time it runs around, we not only have to have that panel, we have to include portable cell phone blocking jamming devices.
[11:58.650 --> 12:04.090]  Well, we have had, I guess, unofficial demonstrations of such devices at the conferences.
[12:04.390 --> 12:06.730]  But, as far as I want to go, right, Bernie?
[12:07.390 --> 12:11.610]  Yes, I have seen such a demonstration myself, very close hand.
[12:11.610 --> 12:20.310]  And it came to mind when I saw this announcement that they were preparing a cell phone use on an airliner's.
[12:20.450 --> 12:29.990]  The first thing that came to my mind was, well, all it will take is for one person to bring a cell phone jammer on that plane to instill a sense of quiet across the plane.
[12:31.730 --> 12:36.450]  You know, there's something about a jamming device on an airplane that really makes me nervous.
[12:36.450 --> 12:40.510]  So, hopefully that kind of a thing wouldn't get past security very, very quickly.
[12:40.510 --> 12:44.750]  Oh, and speaking of which, I'm sorry, speaking of which, I got by security without any problems this time.
[12:44.750 --> 12:49.070]  This is the first time in a long time that I haven't been searched or detained in some way.
[12:50.570 --> 12:53.590]  A friend of mine who I was traveling with, and by the way, Dave says hi to his mom.
[12:54.750 --> 12:58.890]  He was, in fact, searched a little bit because his belt caused some kind of a problem.
[12:59.350 --> 13:04.450]  It's weird, you know, sometimes I go through the airline detectors and my belt causes a problem, sometimes it doesn't.
[13:04.650 --> 13:09.150]  You know, I just wish there'd be some kind of a standard, you know, some kind of a uniform thing.
[13:09.150 --> 13:12.970]  But I guess, you know, you're always filled with surprises.
[13:12.970 --> 13:14.390]  You never know what's going to happen next.
[13:14.690 --> 13:19.070]  If there were a standard, Emmanuel, the terrorists would win.
[13:19.650 --> 13:21.270]  Yeah, I suppose you're right about that.
[13:21.430 --> 13:24.290]  And also, speaking of the terrorist winning, I'm here in Madrid.
[13:24.950 --> 13:30.710]  Madrid was the site of a horrible terrorist attack on March 11th in the train station.
[13:31.650 --> 13:34.870]  Actually, no, I'm not entirely sure which train station this occurred in.
[13:34.890 --> 13:36.630]  It might be the one that's right across the street from me.
[13:36.630 --> 14:00.270]  The fact that I wasn't able to find out readily, the fact that I wasn't able to find a monument or a memorial or all kinds of signs and people talking about it and changing the laws and the way that society works as a result, that tells me that the way they deal with a tragedy like that is extremely 180 degrees different than the way the United States has.
[14:00.990 --> 14:02.530]  They're going about their lives here.
[14:02.690 --> 14:03.450]  They're moving ahead.
[14:03.630 --> 14:08.130]  They're not letting themselves be forced into a society of fear.
[14:08.250 --> 14:14.050]  They're not changing how their society is structured other than to make some corrections in their political leadership.
[14:14.870 --> 14:16.270]  I'm pretty inspired by that.
[14:16.310 --> 14:24.030]  And that's one of the reasons I actually wanted to come to Madrid, because of the way the people here reacted, the way people throughout Spain, in fact, reacted after that terrorist attack.
[14:24.030 --> 14:26.050]  Three days... can you imagine this in the United States?
[14:26.230 --> 14:36.450]  Three days after the several hundred people were killed in train explosions here, they voted their government out of power because they believed their government was lying to them.
[14:36.690 --> 14:38.990]  In the United States, I don't think that would happen.
[14:39.030 --> 14:42.530]  I think it doesn't matter if our government is lying to us.
[14:42.810 --> 14:46.050]  We would support them because they're our government, right or wrong.
[14:46.190 --> 14:48.670]  And I just don't think that same philosophy holds here.
[14:50.070 --> 14:55.190]  The new government they elected, the PSOE, is actually pretty good as governments go.
[14:56.350 --> 14:58.590]  They've implemented a lot of good policies, I think.
[14:58.770 --> 15:03.510]  One thing I have seen, there's a large police presence in the train stations.
[15:03.530 --> 15:04.450]  You do see that.
[15:04.970 --> 15:07.930]  However, it's not an especially intimidating one.
[15:07.990 --> 15:11.430]  I mean, they're standing around, but you don't see the military fatigues.
[15:11.530 --> 15:14.150]  You don't see the semi-automatic weapons.
[15:14.150 --> 15:21.810]  I'm sure they're there someplace, but I just don't get the same sense of, you know, the in-your-faceness that we have at Penn Station, Grand Central.
[15:22.010 --> 15:26.210]  You know, speaking of terrorists, I had to mail something the other day.
[15:26.390 --> 15:28.910]  This object that I had to mail weighed about a pound and a half.
[15:28.910 --> 15:30.250]  It was a hardcover book.
[15:30.870 --> 15:35.430]  And I knew that it was Christmas season, so I didn't want to stand in line at the post office.
[15:35.430 --> 15:42.250]  So I went online, found out how much it cost, and put the proper amount of stamps on the package.
[15:42.770 --> 15:47.550]  And now, how do you suppose I might go about mailing such an object with stamps on it?
[15:48.290 --> 15:49.590]  You'd have to go to the post office with you.
[15:49.610 --> 15:50.630]  Oh, but you're wrong.
[15:51.750 --> 15:57.110]  I went to the post office, and I went to the back of the post office where they have the customer service person.
[15:57.470 --> 16:02.570]  And he told me that he could not take the package from me unless it had a meter strip upon it.
[16:02.570 --> 16:08.230]  And the only way I could get a meter strip was to stand in line with all the people doing their Christmas mailing.
[16:08.330 --> 16:11.170]  The whole point of this exercise was to avoid that line.
[16:12.810 --> 16:13.350]  That's insane.
[16:13.510 --> 16:14.670]  What is a meter strip?
[16:15.290 --> 16:18.990]  The postage meter machine, rather than loose stamps glued on.
[16:20.470 --> 16:21.250]  Oh, I see.
[16:21.290 --> 16:22.450]  But he already had the stamps on.
[16:22.550 --> 16:25.550]  I already had the stamps, so I wasn't about to go get a strip with no money.
[16:25.730 --> 16:26.930]  I see at least two flaws with this.
[16:27.070 --> 16:30.410]  The first flaw is the obvious one, that this is totally inane.
[16:30.410 --> 16:48.090]  The second flaw is that if this is the natural outgrowth of the rule that says you can't mail something weighing more than a pound at a street corner box, which they've had in effect since the late 90s, ahead of the terrorist bombing at the World Trade Center,
[16:48.510 --> 16:59.150]  it's insane because anybody could go into an office and get the strip and stick it on much as they could stamps and then take it to the post office.
[16:59.190 --> 17:02.350]  So it doesn't add anything in security that way.
[17:02.430 --> 17:14.470]  What is at least as insane as the solution to this problem I found, which was to go outside, wander around until I found a mail deliverer on his rounds, and hand it to him, because apparently he is allowed to accept things.
[17:14.650 --> 17:15.450]  Oh, you are kidding me.
[17:17.890 --> 17:19.990]  Well, I can't say I'm surprised, Mike.
[17:19.990 --> 17:20.850]  I just can't say that.
[17:20.850 --> 17:21.830]  No, no, not at all.
[17:22.910 --> 17:29.590]  We had a reader write in to ask if I'm causing trouble in Portugal, because apparently, as soon as I arrived, the government resigned.
[17:31.150 --> 17:33.250]  Let me assure you, I had nothing to do with that.
[17:33.250 --> 17:51.210]  In fact, I looked into this a little bit, and yeah, the Prime Minister, Pedro Santana López announced the resignation of his conservative government, but that move followed Friday's decision by President Jorge Sampio to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
[17:51.370 --> 17:53.770]  So that happened before I got to Portugal.
[17:53.770 --> 17:55.210]  I got there on Sunday.
[17:55.390 --> 17:57.730]  So I had nothing to do with this particular thing.
[17:57.770 --> 17:58.470]  But it is interesting.
[17:59.230 --> 18:09.250]  They're saying the government's negative succession of incidents and declarations, contradictions, and discord nations in whole led me to dissolve the parliament as the only solution.
[18:09.270 --> 18:11.890]  for a grave crisis of credibility and instability.
[18:12.310 --> 18:22.070]  Boy, I'd like to hear those words on Capitol Hill for a change, you know, some kind of accountability when people have all kinds of conflicting messages and there's no confidence in the government.
[18:22.710 --> 18:27.590]  So I think it'll be a cold day in hell when we see something like that happen.
[18:32.470 --> 18:32.910]  Hello?
[18:33.210 --> 18:33.450]  Hi.
[18:33.710 --> 18:33.870]  Hi.
[18:34.010 --> 18:34.250]  Okay.
[18:34.710 --> 18:36.150]  I didn't know my words were that dramatic.
[18:36.150 --> 18:37.150]  We're waiting for someone to talk.
[18:37.410 --> 18:37.850]  Okay.
[18:37.850 --> 18:46.570]  Well, I also wanted to say something about the transit systems of both Lisbon and Madrid.
[18:46.870 --> 18:54.350]  And I think, Redbird, you'd be very interested in this as well because I always make a point of trying to figure out how systems work, how systems don't work.
[18:54.530 --> 18:58.890]  In Portugal, I got this pass known as a two-day pass.
[18:59.050 --> 19:02.650]  There's all kinds of variable ways you can get passes for the transit systems.
[19:02.650 --> 19:11.150]  Now, the two-day pass results in you being handed this little proximity card, which, when you first get it, seems like the coolest thing in the world.
[19:11.210 --> 19:13.550]  You can feel this little bump inside the card.
[19:13.670 --> 19:16.610]  You know, it's a paper card, but you can feel the little bump inside it.
[19:16.690 --> 19:20.510]  And you're supposed to wave that over a machine as you walk through the turnstile.
[19:21.010 --> 19:27.110]  Well, that's where the problems begin because when you do that, you get a message saying that the card's no good.
[19:27.590 --> 19:31.930]  And when you ask people for help, they say, oh, just keep doing it because it always does that.
[19:32.770 --> 19:38.050]  So basically, every time I was going through the turnstile, sometimes you have to go through the turnstile on the way out as well.
[19:38.230 --> 19:39.290]  It's a weird system.
[19:39.450 --> 19:40.870]  Sometimes you don't have to swipe it.
[19:40.950 --> 19:41.550]  Sometimes you do.
[19:41.870 --> 19:46.110]  But every single time, I would get an error of some sort.
[19:46.170 --> 19:48.210]  And my friend who was traveling with me had the same problem.
[19:48.310 --> 19:49.570]  He had a proximity card as well.
[19:49.990 --> 19:51.090]  Same exact issue.
[19:52.230 --> 19:58.030]  You know, it might just be a system where no matter what you have, if you swipe it enough times, it's just going to open the gates.
[19:58.410 --> 20:01.950]  Or it might be a system where just all of them are completely flawed in some way.
[20:02.390 --> 20:10.770]  Well, I think that was the whole issue about why they wanted to implement that here or why they were thinking about it anyways, that the magnetic stripes supposedly weren't reliable enough.
[20:10.890 --> 20:13.810]  And I guess, as you pointed out, neither are the proximity cards.
[20:14.410 --> 20:26.510]  No, I think these are less reliable because, you know, you'd be standing there literally for three minutes, just swiping, not really swiping, but passing it over and over again, turning it upside down, trying to do it a different way.
[20:27.170 --> 20:31.050]  And, you know, then people would walk by and say something to you in a language you don't understand.
[20:31.270 --> 20:34.110]  And just, I don't think New Yorkers would have the patience for that.
[20:34.290 --> 20:36.250]  Now, here in Madrid, it's a completely different system.
[20:36.630 --> 20:38.570]  I couldn't find an unlimited card.
[20:38.790 --> 20:43.230]  But what I did find was a 10-ride card for a very cheap amount.
[20:43.330 --> 20:46.450]  It comes out to about 50 cents a ride if you get that kind of a card.
[20:46.450 --> 20:55.330]  And what that is, is a very small, hard plastic card with a very, very tiny strip going down the middle of it.
[20:55.590 --> 20:58.410]  And what you do is you insert that into the machine.
[20:58.590 --> 21:06.230]  It sucks it into the machine and tells you how many rods you have left and prints something onto the card, which I guess tells you how many times you've ridden.
[21:06.810 --> 21:08.270]  That system has worked flawlessly.
[21:08.290 --> 21:10.890]  It looks like it's been around since the turn of the last century.
[21:11.050 --> 21:14.430]  But it's a system that, in its simplicity, works just fine.
[21:14.430 --> 21:19.070]  So this sounds sort of similar to what they have in Washington, D.C.?
[21:19.590 --> 21:20.510]  Washington, D.C.
[21:20.570 --> 21:23.370]  has a much bigger card, a much thicker stripe.
[21:23.970 --> 21:27.870]  This is about maybe a third or even a quarter the size of that.
[21:28.370 --> 21:30.490]  But other than that, it's similar, yes.
[21:31.310 --> 21:31.890]  Yeah, yeah.
[21:32.110 --> 21:37.310]  I remember a thing on those proximity cards that really scared the living daylights out of me.
[21:39.290 --> 21:43.630]  I remember going to one of the conferences, actually, one of the 2600.com conferences.
[21:43.890 --> 21:48.090]  And the guy just...
[21:48.090 --> 21:50.050]  It was just a guy with a briefcase, just walked on.
[21:50.110 --> 21:51.250]  I don't remember his name anymore.
[21:51.690 --> 22:01.030]  Guy just walked into a place with a briefcase, walked up the middle aisle, opened up his briefcase, looked out in front of everybody and said, okay, does anybody here have proximity card?
[22:01.030 --> 22:06.750]  And a whole bunch of people raised their hands, you know, from, like, you know, wherever corporate madness place they worked in.
[22:06.910 --> 22:11.090]  And he said, okay, everybody with proximity card, could you all take them out, please?
[22:11.530 --> 22:15.850]  And everybody reaches in their pockets and he puts up a little, you know, the...
[22:16.550 --> 22:17.090]  What is it?
[22:17.150 --> 22:18.790]  The overhead projector kind of thing.
[22:19.330 --> 22:26.770]  Puts a little screen up on the overhead projector and says, okay, if anybody sees their number from their proximity card on this screen, raise your hand.
[22:26.770 --> 22:29.110]  And, like, half the room raised their hand.
[22:29.370 --> 22:29.670]  Right.
[22:29.830 --> 22:32.170]  That scared the daylights out of me, so...
[22:32.170 --> 22:37.890]  Well, one of the benefits of proximity cards is that you can't get much information off the cards themselves.
[22:38.050 --> 22:44.850]  You'll get a very small ID number, but you'll always have to have the database to cross-reference that to before you get any usable information.
[22:44.990 --> 22:51.270]  So as long as that database can be kept secure, then I think they would be more secure than most MagStrap technology now.
[22:51.270 --> 23:02.930]  In other words, a random gathering of info, as one would get in an aisle at a HOPE conference, is no good unless you can match the people with the building that they're going into.
[23:05.370 --> 23:10.110]  Well, whatever we imagine to be the future is going to happen at some point.
[23:10.810 --> 23:13.430]  So I guess we just have to log it as it occurs.
[23:13.830 --> 23:17.270]  And proximity cards will be coming in some way to New York, I'm sure.
[23:17.490 --> 23:19.270]  Just a question of how it's going to be implemented.
[23:19.270 --> 23:34.710]  But with something like the transit system, if you could make something to connect to your computer that could pick up the number off of someone else's card, and then you could bounce it back to the turnstile, then it might be easier than trying to copy a MetroCard or trying to fold it a certain way.
[23:34.710 --> 23:35.430]  Free ride.
[23:36.890 --> 23:37.550]  We'll see.
[23:37.690 --> 23:38.110]  We'll see.
[23:38.610 --> 23:40.330]  We also have an interesting development.
[23:40.510 --> 23:53.330]  I don't know if you guys have been following this, but our own Senator Hillary Clinton has been pushing this enhanced 911 on cellular phones bill through Congress.
[23:53.670 --> 24:06.190]  Basically, according to all the official reports, she's responding to the tragic drowning deaths of four New York City teens reported on this a couple years ago, whose frantic call to 911 couldn't be traced.
[24:06.190 --> 24:22.890]  Ms. Clinton said Senate passage of the bill last Wednesday night would mean as much as $250 million annually for authorities to install equipment capable of locating cell phone callers to 911 who don't know or can't say where they are.
[24:23.310 --> 24:26.450]  Hopefully we'll be able to eliminate the tragedies we have suffered in the past.
[24:26.590 --> 24:35.050]  Ted Clinton, who began campaigning for the improved emergency technology after the four teens died in freezing waters in Long Island Sound in January 2003.
[24:36.650 --> 24:39.630]  It's interesting because, you know, how do you argue against something like this?
[24:40.050 --> 24:41.310]  I'll argue against it.
[24:41.450 --> 24:42.870]  Well, let me finish with a point first.
[24:43.070 --> 24:51.310]  If you, you know, have an emergency of some sort and you're not able to say what your location is, the cops know when you call 911 from your house.
[24:51.390 --> 24:52.370]  They know where you are.
[24:53.670 --> 24:56.350]  Why not have the same technology for something wireless?
[24:57.490 --> 24:58.970]  First of all, didn't they already do this?
[24:58.970 --> 25:01.530]  Aren't I paying a fee for E911 every month?
[25:01.870 --> 25:03.950]  Well, apparently it's not implemented yet.
[25:04.190 --> 25:07.750]  I don't know why people are paying fees for something that doesn't exist, but that's what it seems to be.
[25:07.870 --> 25:08.450]  As far as...
[25:08.450 --> 25:12.590]  There's been a lot of fraud and abuse with those funds.
[25:13.210 --> 25:28.570]  Several states have misappropriated their E911 funds, which they've taken from your phone bill, both your landline and your wireless phone bill, and spent it on stuff that has absolutely nothing to do.
[25:28.970 --> 25:29.810]  With E911.
[25:30.150 --> 25:31.670]  And this has happened in a number of states.
[25:32.010 --> 25:32.790]  It's just...
[25:32.790 --> 25:33.890]  It's really outrageous.
[25:33.890 --> 25:34.850]  We're getting gouged.
[25:34.990 --> 25:50.510]  And for a service that we don't want, necessarily, having being our calls tracked wherever we go, not only when we're dialing 911, plus they're not even spending the money on, you know, true emergency services.
[25:51.130 --> 25:56.490]  Let me just say that, let's be clear, the money has not particularly been stolen.
[25:56.710 --> 26:02.970]  It's generally been thrown into the general funds of these states, and then spent on whatever the state spends its money on.
[26:03.430 --> 26:03.630]  Right.
[26:03.950 --> 26:04.450]  Well, I mean...
[26:04.450 --> 26:05.450]  Stolen, in other words.
[26:05.590 --> 26:07.550]  No, there's a difference between the two.
[26:07.650 --> 26:08.950]  Okay, let's make it clear.
[26:08.970 --> 26:10.530]  It's like New York State and the lottery.
[26:10.710 --> 26:18.210]  They say it goes to education, but it actually goes into the general fund, and they decrease the amount that they specifically spend on education by that amount.
[26:18.210 --> 26:20.930]  You have a choice of whether to buy a lottery ticket or not.
[26:21.030 --> 26:25.550]  You don't have a choice whether to pay these E911 fees that are taken out of your phone bill.
[26:25.670 --> 26:26.650]  Of course you do, Bernie.
[26:26.690 --> 26:27.510]  You don't have to have a phone.
[26:28.270 --> 26:28.790]  It's true.
[26:29.390 --> 26:30.970]  I have a question about this E911.
[26:31.110 --> 26:35.190]  Now, is this using the cell phone towers to locate the caller, or is this using...
[26:35.190 --> 26:42.170]  Because I have something in my phone that uses some service called GPS-1, so that if I make a 911 call, they'll be able to locate where I am.
[26:42.530 --> 26:49.210]  There's two different technologies, and the carriers don't have to use one or the other.
[26:49.310 --> 26:50.370]  They just have to use one of them.
[26:50.530 --> 27:02.910]  One of them uses sort of a triangulation between the cell towers to figure out where you are, and some of them, a different technology, uses a GPS, global positioning system receiver.
[27:03.190 --> 27:15.750]  It's basically a satellite receiver in the cell phone that transmits its coordinates over the cell phone network to the mobile telephone switching office and then on to the E911 center, and they can look up the coordinates that way.
[27:16.130 --> 27:18.150]  So there's two different ways it can be done.
[27:18.370 --> 27:26.090]  Because with the GPS method, at least, I know with my phone it wouldn't be transmitting coordinates any time I didn't want it to, only when I dial 911.
[27:26.370 --> 27:30.610]  Whereas with the triangulation, you know, you could be tracked wherever you are, whenever they want.
[27:30.850 --> 27:36.730]  Do you know for a fact that your GPS receiver is not sending location information when you don't want it to?
[27:36.910 --> 27:37.970]  Well, it's not sending any...
[27:37.970 --> 27:41.390]  I mean, I've gone into the debug menu and it doesn't have any information to send, but...
[27:41.390 --> 27:41.630]  Okay.
[27:42.230 --> 27:43.410]  They may not have implemented.
[27:43.550 --> 27:50.130]  Just because your phone has it doesn't mean it's been implemented in your local area yet, in your local mobile telephone switching office.
[27:51.010 --> 27:56.670]  That has not been implemented in many areas yet, the GPS functionality.
[27:57.530 --> 27:59.710]  Frankly, they're all pretty much way behind on this.
[27:59.810 --> 28:02.650]  The FCC mandated this to happen like a couple of years ago.
[28:02.970 --> 28:05.010]  And the carriers are really dragging their feet.
[28:05.090 --> 28:12.970]  But when they finally get around to doing it, you can bet they're going to want to market that geolocation data as where you are to companies.
[28:13.170 --> 28:21.490]  So when you, like, walk by a Starbucks, your phone beeps and tells you, hey, we've got a special on Coca-Moca today or whatever they're selling.
[28:21.690 --> 28:22.090]  Which is...
[28:22.090 --> 28:23.310]  And that's going to happen.
[28:23.470 --> 28:28.490]  Which is why I like the fact that with the GPS, or at least as far as my phone tells me, you know, it's got...
[28:28.490 --> 28:34.330]  You can always have location-based services on, which would be something like that, where when you walk past somewhere, it tells you.
[28:34.470 --> 28:36.850]  Or you can just have it for 911, which would be...
[28:36.850 --> 28:43.170]  So as far as that, you know, the control hopefully ends up with the person using the phone and not with the phone company.
[28:43.270 --> 28:43.750]  That's the thing.
[28:43.830 --> 28:45.190]  You don't really have control over...
[28:45.190 --> 28:48.210]  You don't necessarily have control over the software running on your phone.
[28:48.510 --> 28:49.930]  Not all of them have that ability.
[28:50.150 --> 28:54.610]  The cell phone carriers dictate how the software will operate on your phone.
[28:54.870 --> 28:56.910]  And let's be clear about one thing.
[28:56.910 --> 29:00.810]  They say now that this is for 911 calls.
[29:01.070 --> 29:06.690]  I think we all know that once they implement this, they're going to implement it for everything, for one thing or another.
[29:06.890 --> 29:14.590]  Or if it's for commercial purposes, privacy, invasion purposes, as they're going to call it, or just, you know, just not giving us a choice.
[29:14.750 --> 29:20.090]  In this very story, in fact, that I was reading from the Associated Press, there's something hidden in here which kind of disturbs me.
[29:21.090 --> 29:31.190]  It basically says that Clinton discussed her bill in a conference call with reporters and Assemblyman David Kuhn, a Rochester Democrat, who has a very personal stake in the issue.
[29:31.390 --> 29:34.490]  It will save lives, there's no doubt in my mind, said Mr. Kuhn.
[29:34.690 --> 29:38.230]  His daughter was abducted and killed in Rochester in 1993.
[29:38.970 --> 29:44.530]  She dialed her cell phone during the ordeal, and while authorities could hear what was going on, they could not locate her.
[29:44.690 --> 29:48.190]  Now, maybe this is just written poorly, but she dialed her cell phone?
[29:48.810 --> 29:52.070]  Now, if she dialed her cell phone, well, this isn't going to help at all.
[29:52.890 --> 29:54.290]  She dialed from her cell phone.
[29:54.290 --> 29:55.850]  Maybe that's what they mean.
[29:56.070 --> 30:02.730]  But I have a feeling that, you know, a cell phone call to a relative, perhaps, is something they also are going to want to track.
[30:03.110 --> 30:11.510]  Well, the AT&T service has something called M-Mode, which is known as GPRS data in languages that aren't marketing speak.
[30:11.830 --> 30:19.030]  And there's a part of it where you can ask it to find locations near you.
[30:19.030 --> 30:24.910]  You can say, find 20 restaurants that are close to me.
[30:25.070 --> 30:36.690]  And it doesn't work so great in New York City where the error of it, there's like 100 restaurants within the error bounds, but in more rural locales, it works pretty well.
[30:37.430 --> 30:39.330]  Back to an earlier point, okay?
[30:39.510 --> 30:43.610]  We have Chuck Schumer mandating surveillance cameras and bodegas.
[30:44.030 --> 30:51.410]  We have Hillary Clinton mandating a way that the government could find out exactly where you are if you have a cell phone.
[30:51.550 --> 30:57.950]  And you keep telling me we live in a state that's so wonderful with liberal senators interested in caring about our rights?
[30:58.170 --> 30:59.810]  Why do you think I vote Republican?
[31:00.030 --> 31:01.190]  Perhaps you'd be interested in this, Jim.
[31:01.530 --> 31:14.090]  Retired General Tommy Franks, I don't think he'd call him a liberal, he signed on to be a spokesman for a company that uses global positioning system technology in teen cell phones to let parents know how fast they're driving.
[31:14.510 --> 31:19.750]  Now, he's going to be the official face of, and a great name for this company, too, Teen Arrive Alive.
[31:20.650 --> 31:21.850]  Teen Arrive Alive.
[31:21.990 --> 31:31.570]  The organization aims to get teens to carry a cell phone containing a GPS chip that sends out regular signals letting parents know where they are and how fast they're going.
[31:31.830 --> 31:37.230]  And if a certain predetermined speed limit is passed, an alarm will go off in the cell phone and parents will be notified.
[31:37.630 --> 31:41.190]  A bumper sticker on the teen's car enables drivers to report reckless behavior.
[31:41.190 --> 31:42.010]  That's going to be great.
[31:42.450 --> 31:48.430]  Both the teen and his or her parents are then notified by phone or email that a negative driving report has come in.
[31:49.970 --> 31:55.830]  Frank says, as a parent, I know it is not only my right, but also my responsibility to keep an eye on and protect my children.
[31:55.970 --> 32:02.430]  If I know where my kids are, where they're going, how they're driving, and how fast they're traveling, I can counsel them before an accident occurs.
[32:02.770 --> 32:04.210]  I can help protect them.
[32:04.490 --> 32:06.230]  This is invasive overkill.
[32:06.310 --> 32:07.550]  Why put it on the cell phone?
[32:08.430 --> 32:13.310]  For at least 20 years, they've had devices that you could link to the car itself.
[32:14.250 --> 32:18.170]  Well, because if they get out of the car and start running, Tommy Frank will still be able to find them.
[32:18.590 --> 32:26.750]  Yes, but I mean, if it's in something that's not attached to the car, couldn't you say, well, I'm going to the park, throw it in the bushes for a couple of hours, and then go back and pick it up?
[32:27.150 --> 32:33.410]  I mean, it wouldn't be able to tell that they weren't moving around because it would be within, you know, GPS isn't very precise.
[32:33.650 --> 32:34.870]  It's a really dumb idea.
[32:35.090 --> 32:38.550]  I mean, you could just turn the phone off or take the battery out.
[32:38.650 --> 32:39.470]  It's not going to track you.
[32:40.110 --> 32:44.670]  Kids are going to find a way around this because they're smart, and it's just the stupidest idea.
[32:44.910 --> 32:45.870]  Of course, it's a dumb idea.
[32:46.210 --> 32:48.830]  This is the guy who invaded Iraq.
[32:48.830 --> 32:50.250]  I mean, of course, it's a dumb idea.
[32:51.130 --> 32:54.810]  Whether you're in the army or not doesn't make you a little conservative or not.
[32:54.810 --> 32:55.770]  Let's point that out.
[32:56.550 --> 33:04.050]  All right, and our final government hits of the week, this is actually from Democracy Now!
[33:04.050 --> 33:10.690]  We reported on some of the comments that George Tenet made last week, but this one is one that eluded us because I didn't see it until now.
[33:11.130 --> 33:17.070]  But basically, former CIA director George Tenet said, and I don't believe he's a liberal, is he?
[33:17.530 --> 33:18.070]  I don't think so.
[33:18.090 --> 33:18.610]  I have no idea.
[33:19.730 --> 33:28.830]  I know that these actions will be controversial in this age where we still think the internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability.
[33:29.110 --> 33:29.730]  Sorry, there's people...
[33:29.730 --> 33:31.430]  Stop yelling in the middle of the street, Emmanuel.
[33:32.130 --> 33:39.750]  No, I'm sitting next to a huge traffic circle and the cars have just been going around very calmly for the last half hour but somebody got angry just now.
[33:40.310 --> 33:44.310]  Anyway, George Tenet is speaking about regulation of the internet because it's out of control.
[33:44.970 --> 33:54.410]  So he basically says that there are people who still think the internet is a free and open society but ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and control.
[33:54.910 --> 34:01.590]  He went on to say that access to networks like the World Wide Web might need to be limited to those who can show they take security seriously.
[34:02.270 --> 34:05.850]  Tenet's comments during an IT conference in Washington, D.C.
[34:06.150 --> 34:10.790]  were not reported by the national press because they were barred from attending the event.
[34:10.950 --> 34:19.950]  And we got this from a reader or listener actually who tells us that a couple of weeks after this he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
[34:20.950 --> 34:22.570]  The reader did or the listener did?
[34:22.750 --> 34:23.470]  Oh, no, no, no.
[34:24.050 --> 34:25.130]  George Tenet did.
[34:25.730 --> 34:26.070]  Ah!
[34:26.450 --> 34:26.630]  Yeah.
[34:27.850 --> 34:29.630]  I, for one, feel much more free.
[34:30.290 --> 34:30.490]  Yes.
[34:31.070 --> 34:31.930]  Yeah, as well you should.
[34:32.190 --> 34:34.010]  Emmanuel, did you hear about what happened in Finland today?
[34:34.350 --> 34:35.270]  What happened in Finland today?
[34:35.790 --> 34:43.470]  34 people were arrested in a raid by Finnish police of a site that basically was a BitTorrent source.
[34:43.730 --> 34:50.610]  So they'd have all the BitTorrent files for trading music and movies, etc.
[34:51.430 --> 35:03.570]  And so, you know, there were 10,000 Finnish people using they were like the users and they weren't raided or anything but just the people who had the site that was had all the BitTorrent files.
[35:03.910 --> 35:06.950]  Well, you know, here in Madrid I passed by a record store today.
[35:07.110 --> 35:08.230]  It was a record and video store.
[35:08.930 --> 35:19.190]  And they had a sign up that basically was saying to people help save resources and share music and videos by renting instead of buying.
[35:19.390 --> 35:25.610]  I just thought that was a very interesting way of approaching the whole music sharing and video sharing controversy.
[35:25.930 --> 35:31.070]  Yeah, you know, it's less resources if people share the music and share the video.
[35:31.670 --> 35:37.810]  And, you know, I don't think they're promoting music piracy or anything like that but I think if you did that in the United States they'd certainly be accused of it.
[35:38.010 --> 35:41.790]  Well, the thing about also the BitTorrent hosts is that they don't actually share the files.
[35:41.950 --> 35:43.010]  They just coordinate all the peers.
[35:43.190 --> 35:45.390]  So, I mean, I don't see grounds for arresting them.
[35:45.570 --> 35:46.930]  Yeah, but that's what happened.
[35:47.970 --> 35:49.510]  It takes 34 people.
[35:49.710 --> 36:00.490]  The thing about it, the reason that they go after the ones who have the information about how to, you know, basically how BitTorrent works is there's a torrent file and it tells you what peers to contact to get the file.
[36:00.930 --> 36:06.590]  But it's easier to take out that than to try to take out all the users sharing each, the little bits of the file.
[36:06.970 --> 36:11.170]  So, you know, even if they have no grounds to hold them, at least they can shut them down and scare them or whatever.
[36:13.450 --> 36:18.210]  Speaking of legal action, do you know now that they're making a new law?
[36:18.290 --> 36:19.390]  They're very busy in Washington, D.C.
[36:19.390 --> 36:28.330]  They're making a law now for people that might be using camera phones as to be peeping comms on federal property.
[36:28.430 --> 36:29.610]  They're very specific about this.
[36:30.250 --> 36:31.890]  Congress has passed a bill.
[36:31.990 --> 36:48.330]  This is one of the last bills of the year that would put heavy fines and prison time on anybody who sneaks photos or videos of people in various stages of undress, which are problem lawmakers and activists call the new frontier of stalking.
[36:48.430 --> 37:02.510]  I'm not quite sure which activist would do that, but while camera phone voyeurism probably won't be high on the list of federal crimes, the FBI and other federal agents pursue, at least in theory, there's now federal protection available so people can't unknowingly have their private parts photographed,
[37:02.950 --> 37:08.110]  downloaded, and transmitted around the world, said Hannon Koko, a New York Civil Liberties lawyer.
[37:08.450 --> 37:24.210]  The bill which President Bush is expected to sign would make it a crime to videotape or photograph the naked or underwear-covered private parts, don't ask, of a person without consent when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
[37:24.550 --> 37:30.090]  Conviction could lead to a fine if not more than $100,000 or imprisonment of up to one year or both.
[37:30.290 --> 37:42.010]  The legislation would apply only in federal jurisdictions such as federal buildings, national parks, or military bases, but it carves out exceptions for law enforcement, intelligence, and prison work.
[37:42.170 --> 37:44.330]  They always get exceptions carved out for them.
[37:44.930 --> 37:48.090]  Why do they always get exceptions carved out for those people?
[37:48.310 --> 37:52.990]  Because they like photos taken by cell phones of people with underwear, yeah.
[37:53.510 --> 37:54.750]  Isn't this already illegal, though?
[37:55.270 --> 37:56.310]  I feel like it has to be.
[37:56.430 --> 37:56.850]  No, no, no.
[37:56.850 --> 37:57.490]  No, it's not.
[37:57.750 --> 38:00.950]  The federal government regulates federal property.
[38:01.170 --> 38:04.350]  The states regulate property within their states that's not federal.
[38:04.590 --> 38:07.630]  So, therefore, they needed a law because it wasn't covered by state law.
[38:07.730 --> 38:12.910]  Does that mean pictures of federal underwear or underwear clothed or, I don't know?
[38:13.270 --> 38:21.070]  It's whatever underwear, whether it's on a federal employee or not, as long as the location that they're in is some sort of federal land.
[38:21.150 --> 38:27.470]  For example, the nude beach off Sandy Hook, you can't take photos there under this new law.
[38:27.790 --> 38:40.370]  Even if you're outside the borders of the beach on state-owned or privately-owned land and someone six feet away from you is nude or underwear clothed in the federal beach, it's where they are.
[38:40.610 --> 38:42.630]  That would be an interesting jurisdictional case.
[38:43.150 --> 38:44.170]  I have a question.
[38:44.370 --> 38:49.390]  Supposing Donald Trump were to stroll down Fifth Avenue naked and you took a picture of him.
[38:49.470 --> 38:51.590]  Now, don't ask me why you would do that, but just let's say you did that.
[38:51.750 --> 38:52.970]  Would this be illegal?
[38:53.310 --> 38:56.010]  No, because there's no reasonable expectation of privacy.
[38:56.150 --> 38:58.670]  Right, he knows the street is pretty darn public.
[38:59.510 --> 38:59.990]  Okay.
[39:00.310 --> 39:01.770]  How about on a public beach then?
[39:01.930 --> 39:02.690]  Not a nude beach.
[39:03.390 --> 39:27.690]  No, this is really interesting because I would think under this law if he happens to stroll down a street say in Gateway National Recreation Area, you know, Jamaica Bay, the wildlife refuge, if he strolls down a road or a path there nude, even though technically he has no expectation of privacy because some of those paths are parallel to I can't remember the name of the street that goes right
[39:27.690 --> 39:31.630]  through Broad Channel, but you can see people on the paths from the street.
[39:32.130 --> 39:33.710]  He'd be on federal land.
[39:35.250 --> 39:44.430]  Well, I think in this day and age anybody with any sense doesn't have any reasonable expectation of privacy because we have spy satellites everywhere.
[39:44.530 --> 40:01.570]  You bet this newest one, the spy satellite is causing all these controversies with senators who are saying that we're basically spending I think $10 billion on some new satellite system that only works during the daytime anyway and only works in clear weather.
[40:02.690 --> 40:06.310]  But basically the National Reconnaissance...
[40:06.310 --> 40:07.990]  Help me out here, Bernie.
[40:08.750 --> 40:09.170]  NRA.
[40:09.510 --> 40:10.210]  National Reconnaissance Office.
[40:10.430 --> 40:10.730]  Office.
[40:10.930 --> 40:11.250]  NRA.
[40:11.370 --> 40:11.890]  NRA, right, yeah.
[40:12.050 --> 40:19.670]  Now, they're supposedly putting up these new satellites at a tremendous cost and the senators are saying it's not going to do any good whatsoever.
[40:19.710 --> 40:21.430]  It's not going to change anything.
[40:21.690 --> 40:29.410]  And yet they're just blithely going ahead and the fact is it's national security so they can say it's secret and not reveal any of this to the public.
[40:29.550 --> 40:48.590]  So the public is basically figuring this out through what experts are saying, through what media is trying to figure out and that's what we believe is happening that this incredibly expensive satellite system is being deployed up there but we really don't know and because of this whole national defense circus that's going on,
[40:48.730 --> 40:49.490]  we may never know.
[40:50.170 --> 40:56.810]  People should know Mike brought up and it's all illegal anyway to take a picture of someone naked without their knowledge.
[40:57.030 --> 41:05.110]  In fact, in most states still it is not a crime to take a picture of someone in various states of undress without their knowledge.
[41:05.110 --> 41:13.930]  It is a crime in many more states to record their speech without their knowledge.
[41:14.110 --> 41:19.950]  But ironically, and that comes from the wiretap laws, but the wiretap laws do not apply to video, just to audio.
[41:20.190 --> 41:24.310]  So if you're taking a picture of a naked person somewhere make sure they don't say anything.
[41:24.750 --> 41:25.110]  Exactly.
[41:25.330 --> 41:26.150]  Or don't record the audio.
[41:26.530 --> 41:34.750]  More practically, this is why outside surveillance cameras run by police or private entities do not have microphones.
[41:36.290 --> 41:36.810]  Interesting.
[41:37.110 --> 41:41.630]  So is it still legal if you use just a plain old camera, not a camera phone?
[41:42.470 --> 41:43.950]  That's what I don't understand.
[41:44.110 --> 41:46.790]  Why the distinction in type of camera?
[41:46.870 --> 41:48.450]  It doesn't say camera phone, it says video, doesn't it?
[41:48.570 --> 41:51.250]  There's probably a previous law regulating cameras.
[41:51.490 --> 41:57.990]  You know, when I brought up this story, I was hoping this would be a 30-second story, and the one about the National Reconnaissance Office would be a five-minute story.
[41:58.830 --> 42:01.590]  But I guess, you know, we have our priorities here.
[42:02.330 --> 42:05.310]  Just one other thing I want to say about the NRO, though, because I find it fascinating.
[42:05.630 --> 42:09.870]  They were not even publicly acknowledged until the early 1990s.
[42:09.930 --> 42:18.110]  Now, a lot of people realize that the National Security Agency, known as NOSOS Agency for a long time, they weren't actually revealed until the mid-60s.
[42:18.290 --> 42:24.090]  But into the early 90s, they did not reveal the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office.
[42:24.250 --> 42:25.670]  I just, I think that's amazing.
[42:25.890 --> 42:31.410]  It remains the most secretive among American intelligence agencies, at least the ones that we know about.
[42:31.750 --> 42:38.530]  Its main responsibility is building and launching spy satellites to collect images and intercept communications for this organization, ready?
[42:38.730 --> 42:42.190]  The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
[42:43.670 --> 42:44.670]  I mean, it's incredible.
[42:44.670 --> 42:47.630]  If anyone has a list of all these agencies, please, we like to keep track.
[42:47.930 --> 42:50.930]  And the names of many of these agencies themselves are classified.
[42:51.890 --> 42:53.490]  That's especially why we want a list.
[42:53.690 --> 42:54.110]  Yes.
[42:55.010 --> 42:57.590]  We're going to take phone calls, 212-209-2900.
[42:58.270 --> 43:11.030]  We have a lot of listeners who have been writing in to us, including a few people who are filling us in on the report about Verizon last week, where we were talking about Verizon's plans to introduce music when you call somebody.
[43:12.590 --> 43:17.970]  This listener writes in from New Zealand saying, we have a similar service offered by our national provider, Telecom.
[43:18.310 --> 43:19.630]  That's their name, Telecom?
[43:19.790 --> 43:22.570]  It's a good name for a phone company, I guess, but it's kind of nondescript.
[43:23.250 --> 43:28.530]  Well, you select a caller tune that your callers will hear while you wait for them to pick up.
[43:28.610 --> 43:33.630]  You simply send an SMS code to 8863, and it instantly starts to work.
[43:34.010 --> 43:35.590]  We got the service about a month ago.
[43:35.750 --> 43:38.690]  It costs a one-time fee of $350 each time you want to change the tune.
[43:38.910 --> 43:40.810]  You can only select from an online database.
[43:40.990 --> 43:43.030]  It currently has about 240 songs in it.
[43:43.270 --> 43:44.210]  That's from Jed.
[43:44.750 --> 43:55.510]  This other listener writes in, regarding the ringback function discussed last week, the idea is that the calling party receives a sample selected by the call party instead of the usual ring.
[43:55.810 --> 44:05.230]  That is, the call party forces a snippet of this favorite Britney Spears song into the ear of the calling party when that person calls.
[44:06.210 --> 44:08.010]  I can't imagine anything worse.
[44:09.290 --> 44:10.890]  So that's what we have to look forward to, I guess.
[44:10.990 --> 44:12.310]  Snippets of other people's favorite songs.
[44:12.530 --> 44:17.330]  My question, though, remains, is this something that people from landlines are going to hear, or just people from cell phones?
[44:18.090 --> 44:22.130]  I guess if you have the similar musical taste to your friends, it might not be so bad.
[44:22.890 --> 44:24.410]  I'd get sick of it after a while.
[44:24.530 --> 44:25.030]  I really would.
[44:25.930 --> 44:41.510]  And one other letter I'd like to read here, on your webpage for the fifth hope in the source, the characters, and then this person lists all kinds of characters here, they say it translates out to the fifth hope when rot13 decoded.
[44:41.750 --> 44:45.730]  I've tried numerous ways to decode the other line of text, but can't get anything from it.
[44:45.950 --> 44:52.950]  What does AOPZ, PZ, UVA, WY, VWHNH, UKH translate out to?
[44:53.150 --> 44:53.450]  Thanks.
[44:53.910 --> 45:00.270]  You know, I don't know any of this, but it's fascinating what you can figure out when you spend some time on it.
[45:00.430 --> 45:01.630]  Any insight?
[45:01.890 --> 45:03.610]  I do like the number 13.
[45:03.610 --> 45:06.290]  It's a good number, although some people don't like it.
[45:06.410 --> 45:08.610]  But there are also other numbers that we like.
[45:09.250 --> 45:11.310]  They have 13 here in Spain, by the way.
[45:11.490 --> 45:12.850]  They have 13 all over Europe.
[45:12.910 --> 45:15.410]  We don't have 13 in America, I know, but they use it here.
[45:15.530 --> 45:18.450]  Do they have 13th floor in any of the buildings you've been in?
[45:18.630 --> 45:18.910]  Sure.
[45:19.230 --> 45:21.750]  13th floor, 13 on buildings, 13 everywhere.
[45:21.990 --> 45:22.670]  I'm impressed.
[45:22.670 --> 45:24.010]  I met a guy named 13.
[45:24.230 --> 45:25.370]  They use the number, all of them.
[45:25.750 --> 45:26.510]  It's incredible.
[45:27.530 --> 45:28.590]  Let's take some calls.
[45:28.810 --> 45:31.450]  Our number is 212-209-2900.
[45:32.110 --> 45:34.390]  And let's go over here.
[45:34.630 --> 45:35.610]  Hello, you're on the air.
[45:37.190 --> 45:37.490]  Hi.
[45:38.430 --> 45:54.150]  Have you guys ever put any thought into bringing on someone who's experienced with the program language for the Devo or the other voting electronic machine in Ohio who knows the program language?
[45:54.150 --> 46:01.650]  I think it starts with XP, it works off of XP server or XP software.
[46:02.190 --> 46:17.730]  But have you put any thought into bringing someone to interview who has that program or expertise about how easy it is to tap in and the voting irregularities in the various states of Ohio and other states that have controversies?
[46:18.590 --> 46:23.430]  One of the, I believe, one of the portions of that is written in C-sharp, if I'm not mistaken.
[46:24.270 --> 46:25.970]  Now, what is C-sharp?
[46:26.030 --> 46:51.690]  C-sharp is a, it's a bastardization of C++ that, written by Microsoft, to use in what Microsoft eloquently calls their .NET environment, which is basically C-sharp is supposed to be portable and supposed, it was supposed to be C-sharp was, C++ was, you know,
[46:51.910 --> 46:57.070]  initially put together to be portable and to do a lot of things, you know, for, under different platforms.
[46:57.790 --> 47:17.030]  And, and then, and then, basically, in the .NET environment, I really haven't seen anything usable in it except for marketing purposes and for, like, you know, being able to access the things that are now in Microsoft Windows XP that are, for all intents and purposes,
[47:17.350 --> 47:18.030]  you know, spyware.
[47:19.350 --> 47:29.630]  I heard that that C++ and now C-sharp is a backdoor, it's easily, easily, easily, easily, hackable, easily, It's a programming language.
[47:29.810 --> 47:32.770]  Yeah, able to, uh, change up figures and data, so like that.
[47:33.010 --> 47:35.610]  Have you thought, have you thought of bringing out someone who has expertise in this?
[47:35.730 --> 47:37.750]  If we find one, we'd love to have them.
[47:37.750 --> 47:47.390]  So, if you are an expert on D-Bolt machines or any other sort of electronic voting systems, you know our, uh, email, 2600, at, uh, OTH at 2600.com.
[47:48.030 --> 47:52.550]  Also, I'd like to know about, uh, the P-TECH, if you have any update information about the P-TECH surveillance system.
[47:54.110 --> 47:54.510]  Anybody?
[47:55.250 --> 47:55.650]  Bernie?
[47:55.950 --> 47:56.230]  No?
[47:56.490 --> 47:57.150]  I've never heard of it.
[47:57.470 --> 47:58.130]  What is it?
[47:58.650 --> 48:05.630]  Uh, P-TECH was the, uh, one of the, uh, uh, uh, software devices that, uh, does, uh, surveillance and, uh, reconnaissance.
[48:05.950 --> 48:25.430]  But this has a controversy about, uh, um, um, uh, with the National Security Agency, uh, that, uh, the FBI agent, uh, that blew the whistle on it, uh, discovered, uh, Michael Rupert, um, uh, from the wilderness, uh, dot com has more information about that.
[48:25.470 --> 48:30.270]  From, from the, from, uh, from the wilderness dot com, he wrote a book about crossing the Rubicon.
[48:30.610 --> 48:31.750]  It has more about P-TECH.
[48:31.870 --> 48:44.110]  I was wondering if you knew about that or you, uh, were familiar with that P-TECH of surveillance, surveillance, um, standalone, uh, CD operative, uh, um, predict, predictability software.
[48:44.610 --> 48:45.210]  All right.
[48:45.430 --> 48:47.470]  Uh, it sounds like something that we should look into.
[48:47.810 --> 48:48.670]  Uh, thanks for the call.
[48:49.310 --> 48:51.550]  Um, I just had one, one thing I wanted to say.
[48:51.790 --> 48:54.210]  Um, I've been here in, uh, Madrid.
[48:54.390 --> 48:55.410]  I've been here in, uh, Lisbon.
[48:55.510 --> 49:01.510]  I wanted to mention this earlier in the, in the program concerning, uh, mass transit, since we do focus part of the show on that.
[49:01.710 --> 49:04.690]  And it's kind of like a, a challenge, uh, to listeners.
[49:05.070 --> 49:07.870]  Uh, and I guess I'll reveal it next week, what I'm talking about.
[49:08.090 --> 49:20.310]  But there's something strange, something odd about both the, the transportation systems, the, uh, specifically the metro systems of Lisbon and Madrid and possibly other cities in those countries as well, uh, that have such systems.
[49:20.330 --> 49:27.150]  Something that's just kind of strange when you're riding the, the trains, you realize this is strange.
[49:27.290 --> 49:27.850]  This is odd.
[49:27.970 --> 49:28.910]  Why is it this way?
[49:29.090 --> 49:32.090]  I'm just wondering if anybody out there can figure out what I'm talking about.
[49:32.090 --> 49:33.390]  That's awfully vague.
[49:34.410 --> 49:35.450]  I'm trying to be vague.
[49:35.450 --> 49:36.030]  I really am.
[49:36.090 --> 49:40.770]  And if you've ever been to these cities and you're observant about such things, you'll know what I'm talking about.
[49:40.770 --> 49:43.910]  So I'm just curious if anybody out there has, has figured it out.
[49:44.490 --> 49:48.930]  Uh, I'll have to ask, I'll have to ask you folks in the studio to remind me to reveal the, the answer next week.
[49:48.970 --> 50:00.010]  So of course you can write to us, LTH at 2600.com and tell me what you think is odd about the transit systems, the, the metro systems of Madrid and, um, and Lisbon and possibly Barcelona.
[50:00.330 --> 50:01.030]  I'm going there tomorrow.
[50:01.190 --> 50:02.330]  So I'll, I'll check that out as well.
[50:02.830 --> 50:03.350]  All right.
[50:03.450 --> 50:04.350]  Let's take another call.
[50:05.070 --> 50:06.370]  Uh, hello, you're on the air.
[50:06.810 --> 50:07.550]  Oh, guess not.
[50:08.190 --> 50:09.470]  Let's try this one.
[50:09.730 --> 50:10.490]  Hello, you're on the air.
[50:10.890 --> 50:20.830]  I just wanted to get someone, uh, to expand on why they felt that, uh, dot net was particularly useless if, if I heard the comment, right.
[50:21.550 --> 50:32.010]  Um, or C sharp, because wouldn't it be, uh, important to have a presentation layer, uh, uh, or, you know, sort of quote unquote web, web services environment.
[50:32.210 --> 50:36.930]  And since it's Microsoft is extremely proprietary, what will we do without that option?
[50:37.390 --> 50:44.570]  Um, this is, sounds like more of a, of a, of a question for the folks at the personal computer show who are on, uh, immediately following us.
[50:45.270 --> 50:45.990]  Uh, so.
[50:45.990 --> 50:48.890]  I don't think he was really happy with that answer, but, uh, it's true.
[50:49.090 --> 50:49.310]  It's true.
[50:49.550 --> 50:49.550]  Yeah.
[50:50.450 --> 50:53.450]  Um, I guess, I guess we'll, we'll take another call.
[50:53.970 --> 50:54.390]  Hello.
[50:54.390 --> 50:55.330]  Hello.
[50:55.430 --> 50:55.430]  Hello.
[50:55.870 --> 50:56.210]  Hi.
[50:56.510 --> 50:58.210]  Uh, could you turn off your radio, please?
[50:58.410 --> 50:58.410]  Sure, sure.
[50:58.450 --> 50:59.190]  I turn it off.
[51:00.110 --> 51:02.670]  Um, you know, thanks for taking my call.
[51:03.030 --> 51:05.510]  I think you guys are discussing a very important subject.
[51:06.010 --> 51:12.430]  Uh, I had, um, problems recently regarding this, um, GPS system.
[51:12.430 --> 51:14.050]  I'm not too familiar with them.
[51:14.350 --> 51:28.470]  And, uh, you know, I had problems with my landlords and then, you know, this whole situation escalated and then he was following me everywhere because he promised that he was going to, uh, follow me and then hurt me and, uh, send people after me.
[51:28.650 --> 51:34.330]  And then apparently it seems like somebody was messing out with my car because my car did not have an alarm on it.
[51:35.470 --> 51:42.570]  And, um, um, he knew exactly where I was and then he was just sucking me everywhere I went and then he was following me.
[51:43.010 --> 51:58.890]  And I had no idea what to do, you know, to prevent anybody from, you know, putting installing devices into my car without my knowledge or following me everywhere, which is very intimidating and scary and scary because he even promised to, uh, he told me that,
[51:59.310 --> 52:01.890]  you know, if it wasn't for his wife, I would be dead already.
[52:03.430 --> 52:03.870]  So...
[52:03.870 --> 52:05.810]  This is, this is specifically through your car?
[52:06.350 --> 52:07.010]  I'm sorry?
[52:07.330 --> 52:10.090]  Is this specifically through your car that somebody is tracking you?
[52:11.130 --> 52:14.090]  I, I believe so because he was able to follow me.
[52:14.230 --> 52:20.850]  Like I was going out to look for apartments and everywhere I went, by the time I get to the door, he's right behind me.
[52:21.110 --> 52:31.790]  And then he told me that he would, both of them told me, the wife and the husband, that they're going to follow me everywhere, that they're going to make my life miserable, uh, that, you know, they'll be sending people after me.
[52:32.070 --> 52:37.690]  You know, I regret that, you know, my, you know, I regret that I was leaving and, you know, they made all kinds of promises.
[52:37.690 --> 52:44.210]  And they even told me that, you know, if it wasn't, you know, the husband told me if it wasn't for his wife, I would be dead by now.
[52:44.430 --> 52:44.650]  All right.
[52:44.690 --> 52:51.290]  Well, I mean, the thing is the GPS devices, which, uh, we've heard cases of people slapping them onto cars to follow people.
[52:51.430 --> 52:54.950]  It certainly makes it easier to stalk somebody and to figure out where they are.
[52:55.450 --> 52:59.590]  And of course, there's always just old fashioned waiting for somebody to leave their house and following them.
[52:59.750 --> 53:08.010]  But I think your situation, you need to contact the authorities and get, uh, get an order of protection against a specific person who obviously is harassing you.
[53:08.270 --> 53:10.870]  And if they threaten you, then, uh, that's illegal as well.
[53:11.230 --> 53:14.950]  Well, you know, carry a, carry a tape recorder with you, record what people say to you.
[53:15.070 --> 53:16.750]  No, that could be illegal.
[53:16.750 --> 53:17.630]  Oh, please.
[53:18.270 --> 53:22.030]  For, for, for your own preservation, for your own, you know, protection here.
[53:22.990 --> 53:25.630]  That's, it's not something I think anybody is going to charge you with a crime.
[53:25.750 --> 53:27.470]  If you record a threat that's made against you.
[53:29.210 --> 53:30.370]  So don't be afraid to do that.
[53:30.370 --> 53:42.770]  Is there any way, is there any way that I could, you know, check my car to make sure, like, take it to some places where they could check the car to make sure that nobody installs any kind of devices, you know, which will allow people to track me, you know,
[53:42.810 --> 53:45.110]  and intimidating me because this is really scary.
[53:45.110 --> 53:58.490]  Uh, probably any auto mechanic, uh, could because unless this guy is ex CIA or FBI, which is unlikely, he's just going to be slapping something on under the hood, under the bumper, in, in the wheel, in the trunk.
[53:59.090 --> 54:07.650]  Uh, and all of these, uh, all of these devices, all these GPS devices in a vehicle, they all have to have a clear view of the sky.
[54:07.830 --> 54:16.290]  So the antenna, which is typically, uh, uh, a cookie-sized wafer, um, it has to have a, a clear view of the sky.
[54:16.790 --> 54:24.410]  And sometimes they're concealed in the bumper, and sometimes they're concealed in, uh, like a plastic hood, the plastic, uh, bumper cover, and so forth.
[54:24.610 --> 54:27.010]  But, uh, they don't, they can't see through metal.
[54:27.230 --> 54:29.010]  So it wouldn't work if it was in your trunk.
[54:29.110 --> 54:31.430]  It wouldn't work if it was underneath your car very well.
[54:32.110 --> 54:35.790]  Um, so if you, if there's one of these devices, there's typically a telltale antenna.
[54:36.410 --> 54:39.310]  And frankly, it's very unlikely it's detracting you this way.
[54:39.410 --> 54:44.250]  I think they're just using good old-fashioned physical surveillance and just following you around.
[54:44.770 --> 54:47.570]  This is something you don't need any special skills to detect yourself.
[54:47.570 --> 54:50.470]  You can simply look on your car and look for something that fits that description.
[54:50.870 --> 54:54.990]  I'm sure if you, uh, look on the web, you'll see pictures of what these GPS devices look like.
[54:55.170 --> 54:57.510]  I don't think it's reached the point yet, but they're transparent.
[54:58.410 --> 54:58.970]  All right.
[54:59.170 --> 55:00.110]  Uh, thanks for the call.
[55:00.330 --> 55:01.730]  We're, we're just about our time.
[55:01.850 --> 55:03.750]  We'll try and take one more very quickly.
[55:04.150 --> 55:04.550]  Uh, hello.
[55:05.950 --> 55:06.570]  Hi there.
[55:07.570 --> 55:08.810]  Uh, I guess not.
[55:09.030 --> 55:10.050]  Weren't fast enough.
[55:10.250 --> 55:10.950]  Let's try this one.
[55:11.870 --> 55:12.310]  Hi.
[55:12.830 --> 55:13.270]  Hello.
[55:13.570 --> 55:13.750]  Hi.
[55:14.130 --> 55:14.390]  Quickly.
[55:14.590 --> 55:14.730]  Yeah.
[55:14.810 --> 55:15.050]  Quickly.
[55:15.470 --> 55:16.390]  Uh, New York, California.
[55:16.730 --> 55:20.830]  If one party is cognizant of the phone call, it's legal to record the conversation.
[55:21.050 --> 55:22.990]  The law varies from state to state.
[55:23.230 --> 55:25.950]  However, it is illegal to play it to a disinterested third party.
[55:25.950 --> 55:27.710]  Meaning it's going to be used in court.
[55:28.010 --> 55:30.330]  So I would highly recommend recording conversations.
[55:30.630 --> 55:32.010]  It is highly legal in New York.
[55:32.390 --> 55:32.610]  All right.
[55:32.610 --> 55:33.030]  Thank you.
[55:33.150 --> 55:36.610]  In Pennsylvania, it would be, in Pennsylvania, it would be highly illegal.
[55:36.870 --> 55:38.170]  So you got to find out.
[55:38.270 --> 55:39.650]  That's, I'm, I appreciate that caller.
[55:39.810 --> 55:40.290]  That's good news.
[55:40.590 --> 55:40.950]  Okay.
[55:41.630 --> 55:43.550]  Uh, we're, we're just about out of time.
[55:43.890 --> 55:48.530]  Uh, well, I just want to thank everybody for, uh, uh, for listening and for writing in and all that kind of thing.
[55:48.530 --> 55:53.430]  I want to thank you guys in the studio for, for holding down the fort while, uh, I'm over here in Madrid next week.
[55:53.550 --> 55:54.810]  I'll be in Paris, I think.
[55:55.330 --> 55:57.870]  Um, and Bernie, you're, you're not going to Thailand yet.
[55:58.010 --> 55:58.890]  You'll still be in Philadelphia.
[55:59.110 --> 56:00.210]  Uh, not until the 29th.
[56:00.650 --> 56:00.990]  Okay.
[56:01.530 --> 56:09.330]  And, uh, we have, uh, red hack and red bird and, uh, Jim and Mike there in the studio and flip as well for, thank you for engineering and for helping us out.
[56:10.030 --> 56:13.450]  Um, write to us, OTH at 2600.com.
[56:14.130 --> 56:15.510]  And I guess we'll see you next week.
[56:15.510 --> 56:16.150]  Indeed.
[56:16.490 --> 56:17.570]  And happy birthday, man.