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Modern-day spying: sometimes old technology is more secure
Encrypted messages on the radio are still going strong
From the mid-1960s until 2008 anyone tuning a radio to shortwave frequencies between 5.422 and 16.084 mhz would periodically hear a jaunty flute playing a few bars of an English folk song. The “Lincolnshire Poacher”, named after the jaunty tune, was one of many “number stations” used by spy agencies to communicate with agents in the field. What is curious is that so many persist: indeed Priyom.org, a website which tracks these stations, notes that activity has “significantly increased” since the mid-2010s, with broadcasts in voice, Morse code and digital signals.
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