It’s important to get all this technology into perspective, and it wasn’t too long ago that Lockheed Corp found the most cost-effective way to transmit engineering drawings from its design eyrie in the Sierra Nevada down to its plant on the coast was to microfilm them and fly them out – by carrier pigeon: according to the Financial Times, France has also retained a healthy scepticism about advanced means of communication, and only now does it think they may be reliable and securable enough that it can safely rescind the need for people to buy a licence if they want to own carrier pigeons – because of the birds’ strategic military importance.
