WARNING TO GOVERNMENT RADIO ADMINISTRATORS: Decommissioned Radio Infrastructure Systems Vulnerable to Legal and Privacy Risks

WARNING TO GOVERNMENT RADIO ADMINISTRATORS: Decommissioned Radio Infrastructure Systems Vulnerable to Legal and Privacy Risks

Summary:

• Manufacturer licensees generally prohibit the transfer of equipment and software to another party.
• System hard drives could expose private and sensitive information, like the names of government employees (including covert officers).
• When decommissioning an old system, destroy hard drives and any equipment storing sensitive data before the equipment is removed. Do not rely on a recycling company to do this as they lack the sophistication.
• Beware of any party offering to sell a fully working and licensed system as they could be engaging in an illicit trade. Request to review existing licenses to ensure compliance.

Details:

In the course of development of complex radio systems, the technology to run them whether they are conventional or trunked has become more elaborate. Most modern public safety and commercial radio systems often involve backend core services that manage IDs, routing, consoles and other proprietary functions. These systems are typically customized for each individual customer based on their unique needs and business requirements. In turn, these systems because of their unique features come at a great cost and are licensed to each individual entity. The software and its functionality is copyrighted and protected intellectual property of their respective manufacturers like any other piece of software.

As new technology develops and user needs change, upgrades are inevitable to occur and these products find their way to the used market despite the manufacturers best attempts to prevent the proprietary technology from leaving. However, when used systems enter the secondary market, they may contain confidential information such as radio ID databases, closed network addresses, and voice data encryption. In addition, the system licenses when purchased by the customers are unique to them and non-transferable. Hence, it is generally a violation of the terms of use and user agreements to transfer and or resell proprietary licensing on radio infrastructure systems to third parties. Radio manufacturers take theft of licensing and intellectual property very seriously and spend millions of dollars to take legal action against those who violate their terms of use.