The Official Thread: Live audio feeds, scanners, and... wait for it.. ENCRYPTION!

[chrismol1]

Haha freedom peoples and then theres the brits your the television thing. Reading the wiki, thats the craziest thing. 4+ million home visits a year to find out if you may be in possession of television equipment watching live tv without a license or something like that. The whole electronic databases in AI like processing for potential addresses of unlicensed tv viewers. wow. And if you declare you dont need a license or find yourself on a potential list, you may get an unannounced home visit! Try explaining that to muh freedoms americans

 

[bob550]

I just feel blind now, like I used to be able to see, and now, I'm walking around blind.

I am certainly no fan of encryption, especially in these times where more, not less, transparency is needed. However, there is a fine line between simply monitoring law enforcement activity, and becoming an uninvited participant. Being directly involved in local police activities, regardless of your beliefs, is potentially dangerous and certainly unwarranted.

 

[BIODTL1997]

Broadcastify is the SOLE reason why scanners and other extremely expensive commercial radio receivers will be obsolete within 10 years.

BIODTL1997
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Messages346
LocationNortheast, NJ
2 minutes ago
#1
Prove me wrong. Would love to discuss and hear contrasting opinions.

Seven deadly sins | Definition, History, Names, & Examples | Britannica

Seven deadly sins, in Roman Catholic theology, the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. They were first enumerated by Pope Gregory I in the 6th century and later elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas. The seven deadly sins can by overcome with seven corresponding virtues.

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ATTN: #2

The San Francisco Police Department Has Encrypted Its Radio Feeds

The SFPD’s move is part of a growing law enforcement trend of encrypting agency communications previously available to the public.

www.buzzfeednews.com

Here we go again, one by one; falling like dominos.

What will RadioReference be when all traffic is encrypted because hobbyists/civil patrol groups and mutual-aid agencies will no longer monitor radio comms during a catastrophe? The domain names will be retired and someone will be a rich man who sold his soul to the devil, with giant bags of money from your pockets, high and dry.

 

[BIODTL1997]

More police departments look to tune public out

More police departments look to tune public out - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

BECAUSE BROADCASTIFY ENABLES PETTY CRIMALS TO EVADE LAW ENFORECEMENT, AT THE EXPENSE OF THAT SERVICE. It would be MUCH cheaper to shut down broadcastify than to enable encryption on every subscriber radio that's already into the $5000+ price point.

 

[Anderegg]

In California, it is no longer a public safety issue, it has become an identity theft PII issue.

All current Motorola radios have FREE 40 bit encryption. Good enough to deter anyone from trying to crack it for stealing personal information.

Paul

 

[BIODTL1997]

identity theft??? not getting that...

 

[mmckenna]

Broadcastify just does what anyone with a $25 USB SDR stick or $20 Baofeng can do. Take away Broadcastify and the issue is still there.

 

[Citywide173]

identity theft??? not getting that...

Name, DL number, DOB from the officer, Address and warrant status back from the dispatcher. Not everyone is run over the MDT and you can do a lot of damage if you have that information.

 

[jthorpe]

In California, it is no longer a public safety issue, it has become an identity theft PII issue.

All current Motorola radios have FREE 40 bit encryption. Good enough to deter anyone from trying to crack it for stealing personal information.

Paul

It's always a public safety issue

 

[GregOH]

Law in my entire county is encrypted and I could really care less. I mean if they weren't encrypted, why waste my time listening to the bulk of the calls being traffic violations and domestic disputes? I listen to state police because I can and it's essentially the same thing and I put them on avoid quite a bit.
What's funny is, there are cities that are on the list of most crime in the nation that has less encrypted law enforcement Tg's than my county.

 

[paulears]

If you run a few radios and upgrade them. It doesn’t matter if you are a super secret spy company or a washing machine detergent company, at some stage there is a box to tick in the software that says encrypt. The question is why you would tick the no box? Saying no means oh, you don’t mind people you don’t know listening. Most people given the choice always choose privacy.

 

[scannerizer]

Glad in my area I get a decent dose of law enforcement traffic. Most police depts. have secondary channels they tune to here when dealing with chases, robbers, etc. Even then, dispatch still broadcasts a summary of the call in the clear (sort of like a fire dispatch, but obviously on the law dispatch channel); the responding cars than work the incident out on the enc. TG. After the call, dispatch orders all units to resume normal patrol in the clear, on the dispatch channel.

If PII is such a big deal, WHY ISN'T FIRE ENCRYPTED? They deal with someone's information on every call - more than police! And, if names, info are such a concern, WHY NOT INVEST IN PDAs FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? I'm playing a cop sim video game where you use PDAs to look up people you stop.

 

[mmckenna]

If PII is such a big deal, WHY ISN'T FIRE ENCRYPTED? They deal with someone's information on every call - more than police! And, if names, info are such a concern, WHY NOT INVEST IN PDAs FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? I'm playing a cop sim video game where you use PDAs to look up people you stop.

Medical information is not considered PII. You can't steal someone's identity by just knowing they were in a traffic accident.
And HIPAA does not apply in emergencies. Some areas still use the UHF med channels in the clear for EMS, but some are running encryption, or running on local/regional trunked systems with encrypted talk groups. Still more are using cellular/LTE for patient data.

All our officers have smart phones as well as terminals in their cars. And that works very well. However when in a hot chase or other rapidly changing situation, none of those officers want to stop to type information into the computer.
When the traffic stops happen, they usually call the plate into dispatch and dispatch will reply with very basic info with no personal info. If officers want more, they can use the terminal or call in via phone.

Remember, encryption isn't mandated. It's the broadcast of person info that has the restrictions on it. There are several ways to deal with those limitations. Some agencies choose to not share PII/CJI over the radio in the clear. Some have decided to use encryption. It's a department decision as to which one they use, just like how some drive Fords and some drive Dodge. Neither one is right or wrong, it's just how they choose to meet the needs.

 

[drdispatch]

...And, if names, info are such a concern, WHY NOT INVEST IN PDAs FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? I'm playing a cop sim video game where you use PDAs to look up people you stop.

There are certain standards that must be met to be in compliance with FBI/NCIC security policies, so not just any PDA will do. And I'm sure there are departments that can barely afford cars, vests, duty belts, firearms, training, overtime, etc; let alone PDA's &/or MDC's.

 

[jthorpe]

Glad in my area I get a decent dose of law enforcement traffic. Most police depts. have secondary channels they tune to here when dealing with chases, robbers, etc. Even then, dispatch still broadcasts a summary of the call in the clear (sort of like a fire dispatch, but obviously on the law dispatch channel); the responding cars than work the incident out on the enc. TG. After the call, dispatch orders all units to resume normal patrol in the clear, on the dispatch channel.

If PII is such a big deal, WHY ISN'T FIRE ENCRYPTED? They deal with someone's information on every call - more than police! And, if names, info are such a concern, WHY NOT INVEST IN PDAs FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? I'm playing a cop sim video game where you use PDAs to look up people you stop.

Are you seriously trying to justify your response by telling us that you're playing a cop sim video game? You aren't a cop, period. So you don't know. .. and I'm sure you have NO IDEA what it's like to be flanked during a protest by the very group who is using a scanner or cell phone with broadcastify on it to listen to your movements. Running people on NCIC etc has nothing to do with it. Why people can't understand this is just beyond me.

 

[Citywide173]

If PII is such a big deal, WHY ISN'T FIRE ENCRYPTED? They deal with someone's information on every call - more than police! And, if names, info are such a concern, WHY NOT INVEST IN PDAs FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT? I'm playing a cop sim video game where you use PDAs to look up people you stop.

PII and PHI are two different things. HIPAA allows as much or as little information that is necessary to properly access, assess and treat the patient to be transmitted over the air. The majority of PII is done over encrypted data connections (MDT/Cell Phone) but there are still situations where it has to be done the old fashioned way.

If you ran a department and had to make the decision between throwing a switch on equipment you already own or buying a cellular device for every unit that could possibly be deployed as well as the monthly bill, maintenance and software that comes along with it, what would you choose? Keep in mind, someone above you would have to approve the expenditure.

 

[rustyhodge]

flanked during a protest by the very group who is using a scanner or cell phone with broadcastify on it to listen to your movements

Keep in mind there is usually a 60-120 second buffering delay on those scanner streams just with the underlying streaming protocols.

A good compromise would be adding some delay, say 10 minutes, which would provide a lot of transparency while not having an impact on realtime movements.

 

[Citywide173]

Keep in mind there is usually a 60-120 second buffering delay on those scanner streams just with the underlying streaming protocols.

A good compromise would be adding some delay, say 10 minutes, which would provide a lot of transparency while not having an impact on realtime movements.

Broadcastify only allows "Official" feeds to run delays and is adamant that they will not allow it for others.

 

[darkness975]

Keep in mind there is usually a 60-120 second buffering delay on those scanner streams just with the underlying streaming protocols.

A good compromise would be adding some delay, say 10 minutes, which would provide a lot of transparency while not having an impact on realtime movements.

I've been saying this for years.

Broadcastify only allows "Official" feeds to run delays and is adamant that they will not allow it for others.

Yep

 

[GregOH]

If something serious goes down and you're scanning, you'll most likely still learn what's going on through agencies other than law enforcement. And then you still have other people that can't resist being where the action is that maybe have a handheld ham or are posting what's going on to local county incidents and breaking news sites and/or Facebook.
IMO, not every detail is needed, I just want to know what's going on and the info is always out there one way or another.