In either case, the helper performs cooperative jamming that confuses the eavesdropping relay and disables it from being able to decipher what it is relaying.
"If girls like something, they'll taste it and be able to decipher why they like it," Ms. Roush said.
The researchers have so far been able to decipher only a few Greek letters so it may be a while before entire documents are revealed.
"In many ways there's a lot to it if you have a sufficient grounding to be able to decipher, unpack, augment and supplement what's here, but it works on a fairly superficial level of engagement".
The F.B.I. acknowledges that before the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 it had tapes, notebooks and phone taps that might have provided warning signs -- but it hadn't been able to decipher them because they were in Arabic.
The NSA maintains that it needs to be able to decipher encrypted communications to protect the US against terrorism and organised crime.
Nor have analysts been able to decipher how the company is reporting its numbers.
Political speech, like etiquette, has its codes and its euphemisms, and Orwell is right to insist that it is important to be able to decipher them.
