Re: [ISN] Spy plane incident raises concerns over access to secret U.S. technology

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Thu Apr 19 2001 - 12:17:04 PDT

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    Forwarded by: "Thomas B. Baines" <tbainesat_private>
    
    Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered by the insistence on the
    part of the general media to call that poor old P-3 a "spy plane?"
    As a veteran of countless covert operations, I find it offensive that
    the news geeks of the country can't get it through their collective
    head that an aircraft collecting electronic data that has been
    broadcast with a very low expectation of privacy is NOT spying.  By
    continuing to dumb down the news through the use of catch phrases that
    eleminate the necessity of thought about the nuances of a story as
    much as possible ([ANYTHING]GATE, for example, the various drama
    school dropouts and frustrated novelists are creating a dangerous
    level of ignorance that will bite us badly down the road.  In
    international law, a very clear distinction is made between uniformed
    military personnel who fall into the hands of any foreign power, and
    spys who suffer a similar fate.  Uniformed military persons are to be
    repatriated as soon as ongoing hostilities, if any, permit.  Spys can
    be tried and condemned under the domestic laws of the custodial
    country.  Be continuing to call the P-3 a spy plane, the media are, by
    inference, branding the crew as spys.  That strips surveilance crews
    of their rights and exposes them to mistreatment for being engaged in
    perfectly legal activities.
    
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