Alpha, a note

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

HoloNet is untraceable

[Marcus Telcontar]

Errrr.... waht about all that business in TPM about a trace? That was using Holonet

[ReaperFett]

nah, that was more of a message, Holonet is a bigger thing

[Alpha]

Oh, ok. Sorry, didn't know about that. I'll just have Sidar mention that to Satine in my next post, ok?

Or I'll edit it now.

[Darth Vader]

Actually DT, HoloNet is a modern communications system, that is developed during the height of the Empire.

[Jerred Rez]

I thought the HoloNet went down after the fall of the Empire, and then became a private net for the remaining Imperial worlds and fleets?

[Marcus Telcontar]

Okay...

Saying Holonet is untraceable is like saying a server on the Internet is unhackable. Some clever bastage will work out a way and it will bne known quickly when it's achieved. The only secure protocol is if only one person knows about it and then I have my doubts. With something like holonet, withit repeaters and transmitters, it would be traceable in some description.

The end point is, you cant just say "it's untraceable", because logically that wont be so. Only if the Flannelled one made that edict would it be so

And some research now...


HoloNet
Once the main vehicle for spreading news instantaneously thoroughout the galaxy, the Holonet used subspace relays to transmit three-dimensional images to various holonet receivers. This media distribution system allowed the Old Republic to have instant access to any inhabited location in the galaxy. It was created from hundreds of thousands of non-mass transceivers connected through an incredible matrix of coordinated SimuTunnels. Each endpoint was equippde with a huge computer system that decoded and sorted the transmitted information. Unfortunately, the HoloNet was incredibly expensive to maintain and operate. Thus, its use was usually restricted to purely governmental transmissions. After Palpatine assumed control of the galaxy, he limited the holonet to specific Imperial uses, in order to control the flow of information through the galaxy

Sorry, but if your using holonet, your going to leave a trace somewhere. And it sounds like Holonet existed in he time of TPM

(Sourced from the Unofficial Database)

Okay, a bit more on the trace in TPM....


Tracing Communications
Darth Maul determined the position of Queen Amidala's royal yacht despite the fact that Kenobi forbade the sending of any reply to Sio Bibble's message. Online commentators have developed many speculations about things that may have taken place off-camera that would allow a trace: including betrayal or disobedience by someone aboard the yacht, or a deleted scene in which a call was sent to Senator Palpatine. However while these theories are not explicitly contradicted by the film, they go against the spirit of Jinn's command and they are not the sort of means that Maul could depend upon.

A more technological mechanism is needed. It may be helpful to regard Bibble's message as something like a modern e-mail message: since the destination is not known at the outset, the coded message would be copied and dispersed across the "HoloNet" hyperwave network throughout the galaxy. The act of receiving the transmission would inherently send out a signal for the termination of the other copies throughout the network. A clever analyst with appropriate tracing equipment and intuitions for supraluminal physics and information theory should be able to use the propagation of these acknowledgement/termination signals to locate the system where the message was received.

Why did Jinn and Kenobi not fear that the Trade Federation could do this? They were unconcerned by the idea of receiving transmissions; but they realised the greater danger involved in actively sending data. Perhaps the Federation lacks the resources for the former kind of network trace; if so then it is a great demonstration of the resources and skills at Darth Maul's disposal.


Aside:
The STAR WARS Episode I 20-Month Calendar describes Queen Amidala contacting Senator Palpatine (before arriving on Tatooine) and relaying her plans to him. This leak would explain how Maul knew to search Tatooine, but unfortunately it appears to be contradicted by the movie. In The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul indicated that his knowledge of the Queen's whereabouts depended on a "trace", which would have been redundant if she had made a transmission in which she actually spoke of her destination

(Source : Satr Wars - Tech Commentaries)



So, I would have to say that TSO would almost certainly not be using a private Holonet due to cost and infrastructure reasons, but the public one. And to me it is quite clear a Holonet message can indeed be traced.

[Darth Viscera]

I would appear to be unbiased in this situation, seeing as how I haven't even read the thread which you're arguing about.

From what I've read, HoloNet was developed during the late Old Republic. One of the Emperor's first acts was to nationalize the HoloNet, so word of his atrocities could not spread. It was then used mostly for military communications and propaganda, and the rest of the communications were closely monitored to quarantine atrocities.

[Jerred Rez]

Yeah... that's why I thought that it went down following the fall of the Empire...