

Before the NSA, There Was 'Patrolling the Ether' - fennecfoxen
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-404791/

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fennecfoxen
ugh, curse you WSJ and your incremental paywalls.

> The government man in the bedroom helps himself to a seat, leans toward the
> lad and says: “I’m afraid you’ll have to write him a letter, Philip. . . .
> There’s to be no more transmitting out of the United States.” He explains:
> He is from the Federal Communications Commission’s Radio Intelligence
> Division; “the R.I.D.,” he says, enunciating each letter. He tells the boy:
> “Today it’s chiefly by radio that the enemies within a country hope to get
> their stolen information out of it. That’s why the R.I.D. was born. . . . It
> is our job to police the ether.”

