Last night, I was playing with the 5-0 Radio Police Scanner app for iOS. For the unfamiliar, this app lets you listen in on police and EMS radio feeds in most major US cities. Within 10 minutes, I was listening to an officer attempting to verify, over the public airwaves, the identity of an individual. "Could I get his soc?" the officer asked. I cringed as I heard the station reply with not only the full "soc" of this unsuspecting individual, but also all of the following information:
1) Full Name, including full middle name
2) Date of Birth
3) Social Security Number
4) Address
5) Driver's License Number and State
6) Full mailing address
7) Car make, model, year, and license plate number.
This occurred in a fairly major city, and the officer undoubtedly had a computer in his car, but for whatever reason chose not to use it to obtain the information. Regardless of the reason, why is it OK for a government agency to broadcast enough information to steal a person's identity, without their knowledge or consent, over public airwaves in completely unprotected form and not even warn them that it occurred? There are laws to protect us against breaches of government databases, and security standards to keep prying eyes out, but apparently no laws that prohibit officers from broadcasting to anyone that cares to listen the keys to your identity.
For those companies that can provide encrypted voice communications, now is a good time to lobby lawmakers to require any officer that is going to broadcast an individual's information over public airwaves to do so securely. I fear, however, that this will take years, if it ever occurs.
The only solution, as of right now, is to not ever have interaction with the police. Don't get pulled over - ever.
