Broken Episode Idea Police Wifi Scanner [to avoid speeding tickets]

[negativesilver]

Well I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while...
But It's prolly a pretty good idea for a broke ep. maybe ep6 or ep7 lol

But eveyone knows how police (def.) state and (some) local have those fancy ve-ry expensive computers that when you get in trouble they connect to the mainframe [and the fbi's database at area 51 too lol] kicks in and tells em if you have been in trouble recently.
Well I have heard that they uses wireless networking [ ie WIFI]
between the vehicles... and my idea is thus

going off a few principals
A. It is wifi
B. you can get a wifi laptop card and a scanner
C. if you can detect their network and IP range...it is very likely you can write a program that will alert you whenever you are in the close vicinity of a police vehicle... So when IP 911..00.0.000 to 911.9.99.99 is detected or STPLCETRP42 or something is found your laptop lets off a simple alert "bad boys, bad boys watcha gonna do wen they come for you" or something of that nature...

So you could effectively use this as a "radar detector" type of program ... but in many senses better... because you wouldn't just get cops actively scanning but any that may have just gotten off duty driving opposite...

Of course you should always obey the speed limit... but sometimes you are late for work and go 50 in a 40... so you don't lose your job... and a heads up as to when to slow down might be nice

Before I get flamed I will already point out a few of the weak spots I've already foreseen

A. its not perfect... range may not be that good ... even with a signal booster... but it would be more of a precautionary idea than guaranteed

B. You would probably need to know specific networks ... gain able just by passing a cop car ... and having a log file for all the wifi networks detected... just note the time

C. While not technically illegal; seeing as you are simply picking up a nearby signal and not attempting to access it; if you can detect a network it IS possible to hack it, which may be frowned upon.

D. And it is a form of detection/ticket avoiding, but one laws have yet to account for so it is "gray area..."

but the cop really wouldn't know anything unless he took your laptop and searched the contents... which is a violation of your Miranda Rights and search and seizure as well as 1st and 3rd amendments ... he would have to suspect you of wrong doing ... and has to state a reason for it... and a specially trained PC forensics examiner would need to examine it, which is more hassle for a police officer on a routine traffic stop wants to deal with... and in my experience most cops don't really know that much about computers anyways... so for all he knows you had your laptop out because you were charging it off your car battery, which is EXACTLY what you were doing right?

But could be at the very least, interesting... Maybe the l337 h4xx0rs at the broken might want to check it out...

thanks

Negative_Silver

[scienceking]

Well, is the Wifi they use encrypted in any way? If so, even if you break it, thats pretty illegal-ish. Even if the wifi is not encrypted, the connection might be on a VPN of some kind that would not yield very useful results. Also, why not just use a radar detector or a spectrum analyzer checking for power over the police band?

[tokeafatj]

you would have to follow the cops for months to get there keys.

[tokenuser]

Its not WiFi. Its a cellular packet modem. No different to using a Blackberry tethered to a laptop, or one of those internal cellular modem cards.

It is off the shelf technology, but it is encrypted and sent via a VPN.

Hate to burst the bubble, but there is nothing for you to detect.

[masherscf]

Originally Posted by tokenuser

Its not WiFi. Its a cellular packet modem. No different to using a Blackberry tethered to a laptop, or one of those internal cellular modem cards.

It is off the shelf technology, but it is encrypted and sent via a VPN.

Hate to burst the bubble, but there is nothing for you to detect.

I was gonna say, 80211g Wifi doesn't have the range when broadcasting in 360 degrees to be anywhere near practical to law enforcement. Cellular phone style broadband wireless sounds much more likely. One would hope that the cops know how to secure their wireless.

In any event, I doubt you could tell the difference between some officer checking a record or someone using casual email on his Blackberry.

Suffice it to say, I don't think that police SOP has them online continuously. They probably only log on after they stop you.

You're better off using a standard fuzz-buster or police-band scanner and some common sense. Of course, such things are illegal to have in your car in some places.