[TrunkCom] while we are on the subject of encryption

[JETorres]

On Nov 7, 2006, at 5:47 AM, JERRY NONE wrote:

> True.  But if everybody went with Provoice, well then
> there would be Interop.  I know that scanner owners
> wouldn't like that.



The agencies/government should've thought or decided [against] all  
that long before we got past the "no return point" with P25. Never  
mind the irony of THEM being the ones still indirectly mandating P25  
requirements for everyone else. I've got a pretty good feeling that a  
mixture of "strong" salesmanship and some people with conflict of  
interests on the "inside" of certain agencies contributed  
significantly to the constant and increasing proliferation of  
proprietary systems which, again, can't mention enough the IRONIC  
state of it all.

Besides, another advantage of P25 is NOT being proprietary which  
should in theory be a benefit to everyone involved. In the form of  
more competition and lower prices on equipment for agencies. P25 is  
not perfect by far but if everybody would've stayed involved and put  
their efforts towards it i.e. agencies, manufacturers, etc., then we  
could've had a lot more done in less time in terms of the P25  
'standards' being farther along by now and more widespread  
acceptance, involvement, education and use of it.

But M/A-Com (and others) had to get greedier and wanted a whole  
market to themselves, which up to some point can't blame them, seeing  
as Motorola got some sort of stronghold on the market as it is, even  
with P25.

I would like to see the "faces" of the agencies that decided to go  
with OpenSky or ProVoice, etc., years down the road when or if M/A- 
Com decides to raise prices and/or indirectly dictate what they  
should do and get due to no other choices of manufacturers for their  
equipment i.e. being "locked in". That's when the tax-paying voters  
should seized the moment and you know how the rest should go....

Yes, all this proprietary systems certainly do piss off scanner  
hobbyists BUT also a lot of other entities like the media, off-duty  
officers/firefighters, community volunteers, neighboring agencies,  
etc. Several of our own local fire departments have protested the  
possibility of our AK Troopers going to full time encryption, citing  
the loss of operational day-to-day capabilities/interops for the gain  
of a remote chance of keeping someone from using info they heard on  
the radio to their advantage. The hobbyists will get over not being  
able to monitor but the more important repercussions will have a more  
lasting if not permanent effect on the community as a whole. Oh well,  
as usual and unfortunately, we'll have to wait for another 9/11 or  
another Katrina in order to get something more done about all this....

And in the end, if the thought of the public not being able to  
monitor them was even in the top three reasons for some agencies  
going to such proprietary systems, then I ask of all of you to give  
some in-depth thought (not paranoia) to that.....