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Warspying in San Francisco
hak_fan writes "SecurityFocus has a story on a group of radio hobbiests in San Francisco who occasionally go out warspying for wireless cameras in the 2.4GHz band, using some customized equipment. Their latest expedition turned up some interesting finds."
and found nothing of interest.
You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.
feed the troll .... :-D
rtfa gives you
"This kind of snooping doesn't violate federal wiretap laws, which generally protect audio communication, but not video, says Joseph Metcalf, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon law school. Moreover, the law keeps it legal to monitor radio transmissions that aren't encrypted or scrambled in any way, unless they're in a band specifically protected by statute, like analog cell phone signals. "If a communication is readily accessible to the general public, that communication is not protected by the federal Wiretap Act," says Metcalf. "
Basically if you don't encrypt it it's your fault that someone else can read the signal.
Worst
The movie holds up well, even though it's technologically dated with all the analog tape recorders and stuff.
Uh, moderators? He's talking about microwave ovens, f'chrissakes.
Magnetrons do not have enough frequency stability for that. However, that would be a nice way to interfere with wireless equipment, if that bothers you in any way. Problem is, make sure to get out of the way before your balls get fried...
isn't it highly illegal to have a police radio scanner in a moving vehicle? I thought it was only legal to posess them if it was in a fixed location like your living room
Not necessarily.
Some states do not have such restrictions on scanner use (or state explicitly that it is illegal only if used in the commission of a crime).
A *lot* of states also explicitly exempt amateur radio operators. Even states that do not may not be able to support their case against an amateur radio operator in court if the "scanner" is actually an amateur radio transciever with extended recieve capacity (which is "most" amateur radio transcievers these days...).
It is essential to check the law in your state! There are many sites with "scanner laws" state-by-state--google for them.
Jim kc0lpv
For instance, with respect to attorney client privledge, if you talk to your lawyer in a public place and yell your conversation to the word, you waive your priveledge. If you talk to him behind closed doors in your office, you don't, even if somebody is eavesdropping.
I realize that Joe Everybody probably doesn't realize that unencrypted radio waves can be intercepted by anyone, but golly gee whiz. Broadcasting an unencrypted signal IS yelling out to the whole world.
This is exactly the reason why I opted to use a hard wired camera for my home. Before I hooked up the camera, I search all over the place for an encrypted wireless camera. I could not find a single one, not even a high priced professional camera that James Bond would use. It certainly seems like this kind of product would exist. Anyone know of any encrypted wireless video cameras?
--- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
If you are a _licensed_ ham radio operator the scanner bans do not apply in 99.9% of the cases. There are some exceptions especially in the washington DC area.
There are also areas in maryland where transmitters are barred as well and along a certain portion of the canadian border you are limited in modes/power
If I remember correctly, he owned consecutive properties and rented out one to his friends. There was sound, but since it was his house/equipment it was illegal. They did end up busting him, but it was for secretly recording the woman and her daughter changing at his house when they were invited over to use the hot tub. Because the girl was 15, they got him for kiddie porn.
Fnord.
Any receiver can be detected. In the UK they listen out for TV's to fine anyone who doesn't have a licence.
The easiest way to find one is to use something called a dip oscillator. Basically if you are receiving an RF signal you are resonating with it, and sucking power. If you, the detector, are radiating a signal at the frequency the receiver is operating and measuring your power output you can tell if someone is receiving the signal.
Also used in WWII to winkle out the spys.
Unfortunately, most wireless products on the market ignore security. Baby monitors, wireless cameras, cell phones, etc. should all be encrypted by default, but they're not. Ideally, consumer pressure would force the companies to implement features to prevent snooping, but most consumers don't understand the security and privacy issues with these technologies.
theoretically it can be detected. if you look at radar detectors that some states/countries?? have banned the older ones can be detected because every electronic device emits some form of RF energy. The newer ones though are sheilded making it virtually impossible to detect, even with extreamly sensitive equipment. the same goes for scanners, it can be detected if it doesn't have good sheilding
Yes, they actually DO 'technically' work... however, you have to either be VERY close (1 foot or less) from the source of the transmission, or you need to be ready to see it going off constantly due to cordless phones if you set it too sensitive. (Says the guy who worked for Radio Shack for a while). Whenever we saw one of those leave the store, we knew it would be back in a day or two. Think about it... It basically detects all 'strong' radio frequencies in a number of ranges, but it is NOT directional. SOOooo, if you want to sweep it over your body to see if somebody has wired a bug into your clothes, shoes, or pen, it's good to go, however, for anything else, it's not that great. For the average person, it's useless. That is, unless you like saying "Look! This thing beeps just before my cordless phone rings!".
@Whee
A relative of mine is a special assistant to the state prosecutor of a New England state which I will not mention here. He works in a pedophile unit. One of their more interesting/disturbing cases involved a fellow in a dense residential neighborhood who was setting up a wireless (I assume X10) video camera to keep an eye on his infant while he was on the other side of the house. He turns on the video receiver, and is rather surprised when he starts receiving video from his neighbor's daughter's bedroom. (We'll say he is in house 100, his neighbor is in house 102). He walks next door, and asks the man of the house why there's a camera running in his (teenage) daughter's bedroom. As it turns out, the next neighbor over (house 104) had given the girl a lava lamp for her birthday... with (you guessed it) an embedded X10 cam. As it turns out, he had a camera running in another neighbor's house as well. Today, he is still in jail.
Did no one else wonder if this might happen after seeing X10 popups, month after month, featuring candid shots of scantily clad women?