[Scan-DC] D.C. Fire/EMS: Planning for ENCRYPTION !!!

[Clegg, Andrew W.]

Licensing LTE for receive-only scanners is extremely unlikely (if not impossible) in my opinion. I'm not sure if it's possible if there isn't a two-way connection between the receiver and the transmitter (for authentication) as there is when a handset is attached to the system. In any event, scanner licensing was never done, or was not even possible, for other cellphone-like technologies, such as iDEN, which was widely used in the south for public safety traffic (Georgia State Police, for example).

Anyway, my bet is that it is either not possible (most likely), or not probable, for LTE technology to be licensed for scanners.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Krauss [mailto:jeff at krauss.ws] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 9:32 AM
To: Clegg, Andrew W.; Lee Williams; Dewey3; Jonathan Binstock
Cc: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net; Alan Henney
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] D.C. Fire/EMS: Planning for ENCRYPTION !!!

While LTE links are encrypted, clearly the receivers (which are 
consumer products--namely, cell phones) have decryption capabilities.
As consumer products, they are already prime candidates for 
hacking.  Do a Google search on "hacking LTE."
But even disregarding such illegal actions, it seems likely that LTE 
technology will be available for licensing by scanner manufacturers, 
and that the public safety flavor of LTE would allow the system 
operator to decide which channels or talk groups are able to be 
decrypted by scanners.


At 08:40 AM 11/19/2013, Clegg, Andrew W. wrote:
>Future generations of public safety networks will very possibly use 
>LTE, which is an IP-based cellphone and mobile-broadband technology 
>that is effectively encrypted, with no capability to be monitored by 
>receivers that are not integrated into the network. So public safety 
>will no longer have to choose whether to go encrypted or not.
>
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