To post or not to post, that is the question.

Since I hijacked the unidentified thread this is my attempt to make it right.




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zeiglerjames said:

If the agency doesn't want the general public to hear whats going on, then go encrypted. Otherwise its fair game. All TG and frequencies should be posted.

PD's are not above the law. Their actions should be accounted for.

Click to expand...

I agree that it is public information. My fear is that some incident will occur that will make an agency do an investigation and the knee jerk reaction will be to go encrypted. At that point we won't be able to hear them even if we know what the TGID is.

Let's say that there is an bad guy and he buys a scanner and used the RR DB so he can hear the response. The law enforcement investigates and will use that to go get the money to encrypt and we will be listening to garbled noise.

Now the true radio listening enthusiast like those of us doing the work finding what talk groups are what as a hobby are the people that will be punished for one bad person abusing the data we mined.


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RakkFO said:

I agree that it is public information. My fear is that some incident will occur that will make an agency do an investigation and the knee jerk reaction will be to go encrypted. At that point we won't be able to hear them even if we know what the TGID is.

Let's say that there is an bad guy and he buys a scanner and used the RR DB so he can hear the response. The law enforcement investigates and will use that to go get the money to encrypt and we will be listening to garbled noise.

Now the true radio listening enthusiast like those of us doing the work finding what talk groups are what as a hobby are the people that will be punished for one bad person abusing the data we mined.


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Click to expand...

FYI, I should have clarified my comment in the other thread.

1. My personal belief is that if I hear juicy talkgroups that are obviously surveillance / swat kind of talkgroups and they aren't listed in the DB, Ill post about them in the forums but will not submit them for inclusion in the DB.

2. Submissions to the DB do get added. If somebody submits it and its legit, it gets added -- no turning back.

So people [like myself] might want to think before submitting to the DB.

With that said, quite often we all come across talkgroups that are "unknown" and juicy, and I personally don't see any harm posting it to the forums. I've done it numerous times. I simply didn't submit them to the DB for inclusion.

So I wasn't personally ragging on you or anyone else. I don't want you to think that.

Mike

Ok....I will answer here...Hadda edit my response in other thread.

Many agencies like the public to listen. It gives them eyes and ears in the community. They even provide their verbal code lists. It also serves the community by giving them awareness in their neighborhood.

They can elect to encrypt their tactical groups. Many keep dispatch and some talk around groups in the clear. They encrypt their tactical stuff.

Also, some sensitive stuff in a dispatch run can be included in notes on the in car computers.

Modern systems are flexible.

Many if these talkgroups will invariably end up in the database anyway. There are a lot of informed people with equipment that has the ability to determine a specific radio ID and associate it with a specific group. All that we really would lack is the official talk group name. I've been known to mark a group as "surveillance" not submission worthy because I have no idea of it's real name or agencies involved.


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New guy here...

Does the RR database have a back end blacklist? That is, for example, could there be a record that says TG 13500 on MARCS IP should always be suppressed even if it gets submitted and approved? That could address the "it'll all be added to the DB eventually" argument.

According to the RR Handbook, No such list exists.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/ima...e.com_Database_Administrator_Handbook_1.8.pdf

do we all need to hear everything?

As a former feed provider I at times wondered if what I was broadcasting was going to a wrong set of ears? But all of it was in the clear and able to be listened to with a scanner, something others could do if they wanted, most don't want to shell out the cash or have the ability to program. After a while I noticed ups and downs and when sirens were heard listeners increased. Now when my local police were on ProVoice I couldn't hear anything, but I wanted to hear them and when Bearcat opened up the ProVoice option I weighed whether my wanting to listen was more urgent than others listening. I decided I wanted to hear PD so I sold both my scanners and saved enough to release my feed and monitor PD. I hear car to car traffic and crime the average HOODLUM who could hear it online ,was something I thought shouldn't be monitored since it was on a Provoice unmonitorable system. So overall I dropped off two scanner, a computer and have one less Internet feed to slow me down. And I don't feel bad as all those who used to listen for free no longer can. and I like to think I may have eliminated one bad person from using this technology for bad.

Another thing to consider as far as feeds, is if people monitor only feeds, they are probably not contributing anything to the scanner world. Scanner sales are most likely on a steady decline and feeds contribute to that decline. That hurts all of us since it puts us one step closer to no scanners being produced due to insignificant demand. We need more people with skin in the game.

Well said grumpy, the feeds are going to hurt the hobby. I completely agree that they are probable hurting sales of low end radios that casual users would purchase. Those sales help to subsidize the higher end radios we buy. Just wait until some jihadi ********* gets nabbed with a feed app, whether he ever used it or not it won't matter. Remember the cell phone flap, that led to to more restrictions. What needs to happen is for the public feeds to go and for users to setup private feeds. Also we should refrain from posting sensitive TG's to the DB, that just asking for trouble.