US scientists crack secret codes for EU satellite system

[BGonaSTICK]

Secret codes used by the forthcoming European satellite navigation system, Galileo, have been cracked by American scientists, casting doubt on European Union promises that the £2.3 billion project will pay for itself through commercial fees.

Prof Mark Psiaki of Cornell University said that by using a dish on a laboratory roof his team had worked out how to crack codes on data being beamed down by a prototype satellite orbiting Earth.

This has potentially devastating consequences for the European Union which wants to charge high-tech firms "licence fees" to access that same data, before they can make and sell compatible navigation devices to the public.

Cornell's success in deducing the codes just by watching the skies means that future users of Galileo will not have to ask the EU for the codes and may be able to refuse to pay the EU for them, Prof Psiaki said.

Galileo was set up as a European rival to America's military-controlled GPS system, whose signals are free for use worldwide.

Galileo's founders boasted that it would be more accurate than GPS and so people would want to pay to use it.

Galileo is intended to pay for itself by offering several services, from a basic signal for use by the public to highly encrypted signals for governments and armed forces. The EU plans to charge fees to companies making Galileo-compatible navigation devices and commercial users wanting more accurate data, such as shipping lines or road charging schemes.

The European Commission said last night that Cornell's success in cracking codes for the prototype was irrelevant, as final codes for the Galileo system would not only be different, but would be made available by the EU.

But Prof Psiaki said: "Any manufacturer can now figure out the open source access codes for themselves."

Galileo, due to be operational by 2010, is a joint venture between the European Commission, the European Space Agency and private investors including, controversially, an arm of the Chinese state.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk