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Agree, it is probably good for police / fire / EMT etc. to be open. However, the linked talk above notes that the researchers accidentally discovered that some
by tbabb 9y ago
Agree, it is probably good for police / fire / EMT etc. to be open.
However, the linked talk above notes that the researchers accidentally discovered that some "sensitive tactical law enforcement operations" were unwittingly operating in cleartext, and divulged to the open air "names and/or identifying features of targets and confidential informants, their locations, descriptions of undercover agents, [...] plans for forthcoming takedowns and operations," and a few other things you probably don't want to widely announce.
It also notes that radio locations could be easily discovered, even if they're not communicating. Bad guys could therefore build a map of possibly-federal-agents in the city, and learn things they're not supposed to know even if they can't hear what's being discussed.
Again, PD/Fire/EMT are great to have open and mutually communicating. But there are (life and death) reasons why you might really need a secure channel in other cases.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago>However, the linked talk above notes that the researchers accidentally discovered that some "sensitive tactical law enforcement operations" were unwittingly operating in cleartext, and divulged to the open air "names and/or identifying features of targets and confidential informants, their locations, descriptions of undercover agents, [...] plans for forthcoming takedowns and operations," and a few other things you probably don't want to widely announce. We expect block headed 18yo infantrymen not to send sensitive information over insecure channels. I don't think asking the same from our public servants is unreasonable.
- tbabb 9y agoThen we agree that secure channels should exist?
- netsharc 9y agoAFAIK in Europe they have full-encryption. But the presence of encrypted traffic in the reserved airwaves near you means there are cops/fire/ambulance nearby. I remember reading about someone building a cop radar by exploiting this property! There are false positives (e.g. you're speeding down the autobahn, and there's an ambulance in a town you're passing through), but it's probably good enough...