[FedCom] Re: Follow-Up: Monitoring Status

[Chris Parris]

>>>
I merely gave an observation. 
<<<

And I noted some pessimism in your observation and wanted to try an
encourage those who might be new to this...

>>>
The statement "the tide is turning" was made said to me by a DEA agent.  I
don't know how broad-based his comment is.  
<<<

And not to dismiss his statement completely, but one only needs to look
back at the history of our little hobby to see that every new step in
technology was going to end it all for scanner listeners. I still recall
the doom and gloomers wailing about trunking finishing off the scanner
business, but here we are today with digital trunk tracking scanners
readily available. Another thing to remember is that federal agencies have
had the technology for years to prevent us from listening. They could have
gone all full-time DES encrypted twenty years ago, but many have not done
so, and even those with the capability often don't use it. 

There's an old saying in this monitoring hobby - If they don't want you to
hear them, you won't. They know that there are people out there listening
and they usually take appropriate steps to keep the sensitive stuff off the
air. But the interesting part of monitoring is catching them when they
don't!

- Chris