The FBI's plan was even more bold. Rather than penetrate an existing encrypted phone company used by criminals, it would secretly start and market its own encrypted phone firm. While criminals used the devices, the FBI would be able to read what they were saying.
The challenge was that running a fake encrypted phone company was not that different from running a real encrypted phone company.
"We can't just run a good investigation; we have to run a good company,"
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It was essentially a problem of marketing, Young said. The FBI needed to imbue this fake company with credibility so that criminals would buy and use the phones.
The FBI/CIA has a long history of doing this. I met a guy once who ran a fake pro shop in New York to spy on visiting Russians (in a part of town they were known to frequent) during the Cold War.
>A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building. In the case of golf pro shops, such stores usually provide equipment such as golf balls, clubs, shoes, and tees, as well as golf-themed gift items, and sometimes snacks or refreshments. Aside from golf courses, pro shops are also frequently found at bowling alleys, pool and snooker halls, tennis and racquetball courts, ice and roller hockey rinks, and football (soccer) facilities.
I imagine it's a good "in" to learn about their social life, which can lead to secrets being divulged. If you know where and how often they play sports, it's probably not terribly hard to arrange for your colleague to bump into them at the golf course (or wherever) and try to strike up a friendship. It's not as if the spy agencies had cellphone GPS logs to track these guys, so the human element was important.
Even asking a regular customer, "Hey, what happened to Ivan? I haven't seen him around. Is he still in the area?" while they're shopping for sports equipment could be a conversation that provides valuable information about someone's whereabouts.
The meaning I know for that is essentially the store and sometimes a bit of a hangout spot associated with a golf course (so named because of the golf professional(s) available there). Not sure if there's other meanings.
