Encryption due to Cell phone feeds

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SaukScanR

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Not sure where to post this, so expecting it will be moved.
I am a feed provider, and am concerned that more and more departments are considering encryption because bad people use scanner feeds for bad purposes.
Sometimes it seems like my feed comes across as too close to the live broadcast.
Would it help to deter these agency fund requests for encryption if our feeds were delayed by a longer time? Maybe 90-180 seconds?
This has likely been asked in the past, but my quick look didn't find it.
https://www.wiscnews.com/portagedai...cle_a46ac505-2c7c-5728-8ad3-9233fa153e32.html
 

ka3aaa

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Jan 27, 2008
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middletown, pa.
Since you asked a thirty minute delay would help dramatically, its people like you who don't think about what their doing is just one of the reason that we have encrypted comms.

However i do believe in sensitive or tactile information being encrypted.
 

Spitfire8520

I might be completely clueless! =)
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Location
Colorado
Any sort of feed delay is prohibited unless it is an official feed.

We don't allow delayed feeds on Broadcastify unless it comes directly from the official agency sponsoring the feed.

The reason is that there are too many confusing variables involved for the listeners which will cause major support issues for our staff in addition to archive issues. Archives are timestamped and would have to either be time shifted based on the delay or the listeners would have to take into account the delay when searching for an archive. Again, more confusion. And frankly, the archives are very valuable to supporting the business of broadcastify.

Implementing system-wide capabilities to delay feeds would be cost prohibitive as well. It would take an large amount of storage and resources to implement delays for even 25% of our 4000+ feeds. Delays would have to happen on the client (broadcaster) side.

We're sniffing around delay capabilities, but right now our official policy still stands --> No intentionally delayed feeds unless they are official feeds.
 

prcguy

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Jun 30, 2006
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So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
Just thinking out loud here, there is noting that a feed provider is providing that cannot be received in real time with a common hand held scanner you can buy almost anywhere. There are federal laws that cover using a police scanner in the commission of a crime and using a scanner app on a cell phone would fall under the same laws. Problem is, the laws are seldom used if at all to add jail time to criminals.

In my opinion there is nothing that a feed provider is doing that would cause a police department to encrypt that the local Radio Shack or other radio store selling police scanners is not doing. If my local PD threatens to encrypt I will gather all the scanner folks around here and bring it to the attention of everyone in my city that the police are trying to hide something and we need transparency except on a very limited scale for sensitive operations. Otherwise my tax money pays for the police equipment and I demand transparency and would take it to the local news papers or news outlets or whatever it takes to get noticed.

Back to thinking quietly now.....
 

Pezking

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Nov 8, 2012
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I demand transparency and would take it to the local news papers or news outlets or whatever it takes to get noticed.
Most media outlets are allowed to ask for to and often provided with a radio for such transparency. You'd be surprised how many news organizations have portable radios in their newsrooms programmed and affiliated to a trunked radio system, AND keyloaded to monitor routine dispatch calls.

It isn't the media they are trying to keep away, it's criminals. LCB III has made it far too easy for anyone without any interests in scanning to pick up a phone and listen. When before listening to the police required a brain, now it just requires Broadcastify.
 
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