Illinois house passes brady's anti-scanner bill!

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Citywide173

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According to the state website (Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB5194) the version of the bill that passed did not include the Internet Streaming section, just the prohibition of unauthorized radio access.

I am guessing the media didn't fact check properly.

Yes, section 11 was the part of the bill which contained the language about rebroadcasting over the internet, and was removed prior to the vote, on an amendment sponsored by Rep. Brady. The way the bill is written, with only section 12 being added, I don't think anyone would have issue with it, which probably accounts for the 110-0 vote.
 

gewecke

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anti scanner bill?? This bill has nothing to do with scanners.

Well it does if you read the bill as the way it was written and also the article listed.
It does not however say that anyone is prohibited from listening provided that it's not an online feed which broadcasts starcom21. I guess you can draw your own conclusions either way,right?
n9zas
 

JoeyC

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Well it does if you read the bill as the way it was written and also the article listed.
It does not however say that anyone is prohibited from listening provided that it's not an online feed which broadcasts starcom21. I guess you can draw your own conclusions either way,right?
n9zas

I read what someone posted as a link to the FULL TEXT. Guess that isn't the FULL TEXT?
 

gewecke

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As passed, it says nothing about online feeds either.

Scott Compton, spokesperson for the Illinois State Police, said the issue hasn't been a problem for police in the past but could become one because citizens can freely rebroadcast audio on the Internet.

n9zas
 

n5ims

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According to HB5194 as passed, "No person shall gain access to, or the ability to transmit on, a public safety radio system (i) by changing, or causing to be changed, the hardware, firmware, or software of a radio unit causing it to duplicate the identity of a radio unit operating on the system with proper authority or (ii) by cloning." It would've been nice for them to have defined the "identity of a radio unit operating on the system", but this normally would be the the unique radio ID as assigned by the trunked system admin.

I guess that since a scanner wouldn't have an "identity" on the system they should be OK. It almost makes it sound like that if you happen to program your radio with an identity that isn't the same as one on the system you may not technically be in violation of this section, but I wouldn't want to push that issue since they probably have other laws (state or federal) they can use against you for that one.
 

N9JIG

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From what scuttlebutt I have heard the issue with cloned ID's has 2 parts. One was with vendors setting up radios on the system, either Motorola or otherwise, that have valid ID's that are not assigned to them. This appears to be a business issue rather than a scanner user issue.

The second is to keep unauthorized people from using transmit capable radios, even though they may be intended for receive only. Usually trunked system radios are set to affiliate automatically, this requires the portable or mobile to transmit on the system with an ID. These radios could easily then be programmed to transmit on the system and cause problems.

I have no problem with this provision that Mr. Brady introduced, if you are not an authorized system user you have no need for a radio that transmits on the system. I know some people like to use Motorola radios to monitor the system. Sure, they might work better than a scanner, but it requires proprietary information and programming to make it work, while a scanner can do it without that.

A couple years ago some Michigan fire department personnel got arrested for setting up cloned radios on the MI state trunked system. I don't know if this has occurred here or not, but this law would seem to allow the state to prosecute for those type of violations.
 
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