Police chief denounces 'cowardly' iPhone users monitoring speed traps

[red headed stranger]

She said, "with the Internet and all the new technology, it's almost impossible to stop the flow of information."

You can't stop the signal. 

[seeker_two]

"I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives."

Funny....if that's true, why not give 100% of the fine to a crime victim charity?.... 

Chief Lanier needs to get back to searching for the "mysterious white van" like her predecessor.... 

[Viking]

She said, "with the Internet and all the new technology, it's almost impossible to stop the flow of information."

The way she says it makes it seem like some sort of bad thing...

[freakazoid]

You can't stop the signal. 

Win. 

[RevDisk]

You can't stop the signal. 

Let me see if I understand...

Chief Lanier is the Operator.  Skilled, but lacks in humanity, believes that by doing 'evil deeds' that one accomplishes good goals.

Interwebz are the Reevers.  Hordes of incoherient, screaming, mutilated zealots armed with an impressive amount of DIY weaponry. 

Nick is Mal.  Trying to bring goodness and justice to the universe.  By suckering the screaming hordes into neutralizing the Alliance, err...  DC Police.

Uhm, yep.  Sounds pretty accurate.  Gods, I think that potentially makes me Jayne.  Well, if you can't do something smart, do something right.

[AZRedhawk44]

Let me see if I understand...

Chief Lanier is the Operator.  Skilled, but lacks in humanity, believes that by doing 'evil deeds' that one accomplishes good goals.

Interwebz are the Reevers.  Hordes of incoherient, screaming, mutilated zealots armed with an impressive amount of DIY weaponry. 

Nick is Mal.  Trying to bring goodness and justice to the universe.  By suckering the screaming hordes into neutralizing the Alliance, err...  DC Police.

Uhm, yep.  Sounds pretty accurate.  Gods, I think that potentially makes me Jayne.  Well, if you can't do something smart, do something right.

We sure don't pay you to talk pretty.   

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.trapster.com

A basic, free iPhone and Crackberry app similar to what Nick and I are talking about.  It has some limitations that I see right off the bat in its arrangement, though.

I'm gonna try and 1-up it.

[Gowen]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Devices-that-warn-drivers-of-speed_-red-light-cameras-draw-police-ire-7930619-50074717.html


I find it funny that the police chief is complaining that people are slowing down.  Isn't that the point.  As for the last line of the article, we don't want them to be able to stop the flow of information.  That is a good thing. 

The best quote from the comments at the bottom is "We don't need a police chief - just put a camera in her chair staring at the chair in front of her desk."  :D

No, it's about money and power.  They don't really care if people slow down, they want the revenue and by someone alerting people to the speed traps, they don't get their money.

[roo_ster]

Gods, I think that potentially makes me Jayne.  Well, if you can't do something smart, do something right.

My days of not taking you seriously have definitely come to a middle.

[erictank]

Let me see if I understand...

Chief Lanier is the Operator.  Skilled, but lacks in humanity, believes that by doing 'evil deeds' that one accomplishes good goals.

Interwebz are the Reevers.  Hordes of incoherient, screaming, mutilated zealots armed with an impressive amount of DIY weaponry. 

Nick is Mal.  Trying to bring goodness and justice to the universe.  By suckering the screaming hordes into neutralizing the Alliance, err...  DC Police.

Uhm, yep.  Sounds pretty accurate.  Gods, I think that potentially makes me Jayne.  Well, if you can't do something smart, do something right.

"Let's go be bad guys!"   

[Strings]

If y'all decide to 1-up Trapster, PLEASE do a version for Crackberry (and let me know when it's ready)!

And yeah... I can picture Rev as Jayne

"Which one do you think?"

"The ugly one"

"Umm... think you can be more specific?"

 

[Balog]

If y'all decide to 1-up Trapster, PLEASE do a version for Crackberry (and let me know when it's ready)!

This. Hell, I'd pay for such a thing as Nick and Rev were desfribing.

[Strings]

Ok, I have to ask: how DOES one "desfribe" something?

[Balog]

Very carefully.

[never_retreat]

Even better:

1. We figure out what kind of radio modem the police in a locality are using.
2. We set up radio receivers at 3 or more points in the city which are tuned to the frequency of the radios.  These locations contain the radio receiver which streams data real time into a PC.  Atomic clocks may also be needed on each site.
3. The three sites send data into to a centralized server over the internet, which includes the packet, and the timestamps which the listening location heard the packet.
4. The server triangulates the location of the packet, and marks it on a publicly viewable map.

 

Hey RevDisk - wanna do a project with me? 

You know I kicked this idea around years ago but never had the knowledge base to tackle the project.
But hey if you need a receiver node up here in NWNJ let me know.
I practically have a data center running here.

[Gewehr98]

Please tell me we're not advocating doing something illegal here on APS.

Thank you.

[Firethorn]

Please tell me we're not advocating doing something illegal here on APS.

Thank you.

We're not advocating anything illegal.  There's nothing illegal about sharing the position of speed traps, sobriety checkpoints, etc...

[seeker_two]

Not really illegal....just "smuggling a truckload of Coors beer from Texas to Big Enos' place with Sheriff Buford T. Justice in hot pursuit" kinda illegal....

[Gewehr98]

Understood.

However, if radar warning receivers are illegal in some jurisdictions, is tapping into a speedtrap camera's network connection going to pass the judge's scrutiny?

IOW, choose your battles carefully, and if you think it may not be legit, let's not broadcast it on a popular RKBA forum.

That's not saying I like red-light cameras, but I am keeping the forum owner's interests in mind.

[never_retreat]

Please tell me we're not advocating doing something illegal here on APS.

Thank you.

Cops are public servants and thus have no reason to believe there not being watched.
Everything people are describing here is passive reception, not illegal.

[Firethorn]

However, if radar warning receivers are illegal in some jurisdictions, is tapping into a speedtrap camera's network connection going to pass the judge's scrutiny?

We're not 'tapping', we're triangulating location based on radio traffic - that's not illegal.  If we started transmitting packets, we'd be in trouble.

Red light cameras wouldn't be tracked by this - they're much more static.  Mostly speed trap cameras.

[Gewehr98]

Radar/laser warning receivers are passive, and are still illegal in some jurisdictions.

Be careful, that's all I'm saying.  Don't read too much into it.

[RevDisk]

Please tell me we're not advocating doing something illegal here on APS.

Thank you.

Depends.  The legal status of "desfribing" varies depending on state.  It's illegal in most.


Oh, you mean the RDF.  Erm, I'm looking into it but it looks like not being technically illegal.  It'd be blatantly illegal to listen in or decrypt.  Yes, it is illegal to 'decrypt' any communication no matter how poor said encryption is.  Sigh.  DMCA was written by idiots.

Listening in is generally illegal unless it's in certain bands, and not encrypted in the least.  As police move to digital trunking, less and less police frequencies may be publicly listened to.  Police scanners of yore will start dying out, except in very rural areas.  Expect a lawsuit sooner or later on that, but not from anyone here.

RDF is generally legal unless it is specifically designated as being illegal by function or frequency.  As a pilot I'm sure you are very glad this is the case in case GPS dies, as that's how planes found airports.  Mind you, to qualify as RDF, the device has to be entirely passive and be incapable of intercepting/decoding the data.  It can basically only gauge signal strength and direction. 

IANAL, and I am still looking up the laws.  Fed laws look ok, but regulation is more complicated.  I played FCC in the past, but under a different set of rules. 

Oh, one loophole, feds could consider it terrorism.  That's not as big of a deal as you'd think.  Lot of stuff can be considered terrorism or related, including technically most photography not taking place entirely on private property.   Anyone considering photographing in a public setting should become very familiar with terrorism laws.  There's "photographers rights" printouts one should definitely keep handy, plus the number of a lawyer.