FALSE WIRELESS MESSAGES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 12 August 1914, Page 2

FALSE WIRELESS MESSAGES.

It will be remembered that at the I time of the disaster to the Titanic, and j on several other occasions, much annoy- ! once was caused to individuals and to j the public by the dissemination or false mess?£es by wireless telegraphy; a recurrence of this trouble took place on Friday last. .Then messages were received in Japan purporting to emanate from the American liner Siberia, and stating that she was aground and sinking off the coast of Formosa. On Saturday the vessel arrived at Manila,' and denied issuing the call for help; moreover, she cannot have been within 100 miles of Formosa, which lies far out of her course from San Francisco. The Siberia was Insured for about £400,000, and on Frrday re-insurance rates were quoted at 50 per cent. British and Japanese cruisers were dispatched to her aid. Much mental suffering must havo been undergone by the relatives and friends of those on board her,, end it is obvious thnt \ery heavy financial loss might result, perhaps has resulted, from the erroneous aniumnceioent. Whether the sipjnals were in good faith by some other vessel in trouble, or whether thoy 'vere the work of a practical "joker"—save the mark!— is not vet definitely settled. The incident, n'|wever, draws attention to certain attributes and possibilties of wireless telegraphy which render it capable of being employed very greatly to the -lisadvantap;? of ihf> cc/nrnvnnt*.'. In the first place, it is practically impossible to indentify the sender of false news, except under special circumstances, c-asily avoided. Inquiries could be made of the owners of licensed installations • n hind, hut even if one of these were the culprit, how could the fact be proved? It is not ii.eces.saiy, however, to obtai i a license in order to be able to make signals, any more than a r>r>fu?h.er need obtain a gamo license before setting about his unlawful business. A temporary aerial could be sent u]> with a kite or a small balloon under cover of darkness, or hauled up to the top of a tree or a flagstaff, and dropped before dayoreak, without leaving any outward sign of its passing presence. While apparatus is available for determining , approximately the distance from which a l!'essage is received, it would not commonly b** available, or be used if available" in such a case, and it gives no indication of the distance of the sender. At sea, ©f course, it would b<i an easy matter for n. malevolent operator—if such a person existed—to dispatch misleading messages witout fear of detection. Thus the authors of Aiessages which are not bona fide can remain anonymous at pleasure, with little risk of discovery. The evil which can be 'wrought by false messages is incalculable. Their employment for the purpose of causing fluctuations in the value of securities ill the money market is an obviously possible form of abuse of wire-loss telegraphy, and it is not difficult to conceive of conditions under which false n:essages supposed to be transmitted, for example, from a British warship to the Admiralty, or vice versa, in a time of international tension, might excite a people to frenzy and precipitate an appeal to arms. 'Wireless communication cannot be effectually severed or interrupted, and messages cannot be preventer! from arriving -it their goal; but neither can their 'propagation be prevented, and the greatest caution should be exercised in accepting them as gemiine if xhe circumstances afford the slightest reason for doubt. Very heavy oenalties should be pi escribed for the misuse of this otherwise invaluable system of communication.—Electrical Review, May 8.