Private medical information used by emergency services 'inse

[turbine_prop]

The following article is courtesy of John Remington.

What type of MORON would do the following...Seriously no wonder the cops and the state government want to make every thing digital and encrypted for gods sake.

Private medical information used by emergency services 'insecure', claims whistleblower

Tom Cowie October 16, 2014

Concerns have been raised that personal information, including medical details and home addresses, used to dispatch emergency services to critical incidents is easily accessible and insecure.

The state government is investigating potential privacy breaches of the emergency service paging system, which sends out text alerts to thousands of staff and volunteers of the SES, CFA and Ambulance Victoria.

The text messages contain information that allows emergency personnel to respond quickly to incidents and can include private medical details, such as medications or medical conditions, when broadcast by Ambulance Victoria.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services Kim Wells said he had been made aware of "serious" incidents where unauthorised people has been scanning emergency paging broadcasts. He said this was potentially in contravention of the Telecommunications Interception Act.

"When authorities are alerted, these potential breaches are taken very seriously and people are issued with a cease and desist by the Department of Justice," he said.
A spokesperson for the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority, which manages the system on behalf of the emergency services, said unauthorised scanning of the pager information was rare but did occur from time to time.

She said there were protocols covering the scanning of broadcasts and that enthusiasts had been listening to emergency broadcasts "for decades".

But a whistleblower has reportedly claimed the private information is easily obtainable by people not part of the emergency services through basic internet searches.

"There is information on here about medication, where people keep their keys, about all sorts of stuff and it's utterly insecure," said 774 ABC Melbourne presenter Jon Faine, who had spoken with the whistleblower.

He said the personal information was easy to find but did not provide information on how to obtain it to avoid breaking any privacy laws.

Liberty Victoria president Jane Dixon said accessing private medical information broadcast by the pagers without authorisation could be a breach of privacy principles.

"The legislation imposes a lot of requirements, it sounds a bit to easy to get to this health information," she told ABC Radio.

More than one million text alerts were sent out to approximately 40,000 pagers using the service in 2012/13, including 524,065 emergency messages. The paging service is used by rural emergency services.

Earlier this week an auditor-general report slammed ESTA's performance over its handling of the state's triple-zero service, saying it had not met ambulance emergency dispatch standards for three years.

Regards

Turbine_prop
Melbourne

[vkcpolice]

I hear a lot of personal information given out over the MMR Ambulance ch,s Names adresses medical history. they dont seem to use there secure ch,s

[peteramjet]

What type of MORON would do the following...Seriously no wonder the cops and the state government want to make every thing digital and encrypted for gods sake.

Unfortunately it's not just one moron, but many - this forum even has a whole 'Live streaming' sub-group dedicated to the rebroadcasting of these transmissions, many of which contain private information. There are plenty of other internet sites out there that rebroadcast emergency service paging and/or voice transmissions. For a long time I have questioned the legality of rebroadcasting these transmissions, specifically those that contain private information that would be captured under relevant privacy legislation. Seems the media may now be asking the same questions.

Listening and receiving these details on a scanner is perfectly legal (one may question if the emergency service should be broadcasting the info in the clear - but that's another issue), but receiving these transmissions then rebroadcasting them with the personal info included over the internet or other medium, without permission of the initial broadcaster or the person whom the personal information related to, is murky water and where the issue lies.

[turbine_prop]

I totally agree with the exception of the CFA especially during bush fire emergencies people should not be doing this they must take a large portion of the responsibility for this hobby about to come to an end.

[peteramjet]

I totally agree with the exception of the CFA especially during bush fire emergencies people should not be doing this they must take a large portion of the responsibility for this hobby about to come to an end.

I can't see why the CFA would generally have a need to transmit information that would be captured by privacy legislation, so there is no need for an exemption.

[vkcpolice]

So decoding pager messages is illegal?

[railscan]

So decoding pager messages is illegal?

It is a very grey area. There is one argument that they form part of a telecommunication and therefore it is unlawful. The other side of the coin is that they are not. The system uses telecommunication infrastructure but do form part of voice telecommunication. It is something that would have to be challenged in a court.

The end result of this sort of publicity, forums like this as well as streaming and the like is that it will force authorities to take steps to prevent services being monitored or intercepted. Likewise the posting of too much information on forums will have a similar effect. The excuse 'if I didn't do it someone else would' is of little value when slowly but surely listening sources dry up as encryption becomes the rule not the exception.

My two cents...

R

[turbine_prop]

Just like what has now happened to NSW country / regional channel wiskey

[vkcpolice]

Do you really thing encryption is just to hide peoples personal information? i think theres more to it but i love a good conspiracy. and belive that encryption is a much bigger thing that just hiding the information of innocent civilians

[dags19]

On with the tin foil hats everybody

[railscan]

Do you really thing encryption is just to hide peoples personal information? i think theres more to it but i love a good conspiracy. and belive that encryption is a much bigger thing that just hiding the information of innocent civilians

Obviously encryption is just not about hiding personal information. But having worked in that area for the police, I know for a fact it is a factor. The usual 'officer safety' cry is rolled out as well. It is a far more complex situation than just hiding communication from streamers and scanner users.

While the usual official reasons are given in press releases, the often associated reasons are not and it is those drive large scale encryption rollout.

R

[NakedFaerie]

I think those people who complain really need to get a life. Those ambulance calls of private data is to save their life most likely so they need to grow up and let the ambos do their job of saving lives. If it includes saying someones details over the radio so the hospital can get the situation ready for that patient to arrive then go for it. How about as ask those patients if they want their details broadcasted so their life can be saved and see what they think.