
List of blocked aircraft on Flightradar24 (2013) - ce4
http://forum.flightradar24.com/threads/5217-Blocked-flights/page5
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jMyles
I require some context to fully understand what's going on here.

I imagine "blocked" means that the flights in question are not displayed?
Despite a user presumably uploading the metadata for the flight in question as
part of their feed?

And thus, can't someone still see these flights with their directly-connected
SDR device?

And thus, can't someone just start a new FR24 service that doesn't censor
these data?

> There is a discussion on FAA meetings about encrypting the ADS-B signal. By
> angering the authorities, we will only speed up this process.

Holy hell, for real? At this point, there are vanishingly few laws with which
I agree even in principle, but "if you are going to fly a 375-ton hunk of
metal through the air, you need to clearly broadcast flight details in plain
text" is a pretty damn reasonable one.

What possible justification can there be for targeting services like FR24?

~~~
adaml_623
Lol. Take a step back and remember that some planes are privately owned.

And now imagine a website called numberplateradar24.com that aggregates the
feeds from 1000s of number plates scanners around the country. Which means you
can track an individuals car.... does this sound like an invasion of privacy.
Where's the dividing line? I think it's totally reasonable that private planes
are allowed to encrypt their identities. As long as their position is still
trackable it doesn't matter if the general public don't know everything.

~~~
jMyles
I think I misunderstood - so it's just the _identity_ that is being blocked
(and, pursuant to this discussion, may be encrypted)? Not the actual flight
data?

...and no, I don't recognize a right to "privacy" that is so tentacular as to
prohibit people from walking around with a camera, running some computer
vision on it, and sharing the result with like-minded hobbyists doing the same
thing.

~~~
cm2187
Well, that's the very definition of stalking

~~~
TeMPOraL
Stalking requires a target and an obsession or questionable intent. If we're
stretching definitions that far, then I'll say that this is just _thinking_ \-
recording inputs, correlating them and possibly acting upon them. Should we
ban augmentation of thinking?

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luso_brazilian
The position of the site admin [1] is:

 _> > Quote Originally Posted by Mike

>> Will will not publish any information in the FAQ just to keep this as low
below "radar" as possible. Every exclusion request is handled manually and we
will no comment or publish this process in public._

 _> > Quote Originally Posted by Mike

>> FR24 should work with authorities, and not against them. I think we will
close this thread as there is nothing more to discuss. This is not about
democracy or censorship, but about keeping our hobby alive without authorities
enforcing new laws in order to limit ADS-B usage._

 _> > UPDATE. Maybe I was not clear when I posted this before. There is a
discussion on FAA meetings about encrypting the ADS-B signal. By angering the
authorities, we will only speed up this process._

This is very similar to the policy of many sites, to enforce "self censorship"
by accepting polite take-down requests in order to avoid harsher consequences.

This is reasonable from the perspective of the site owner. Sometimes an
acceptable loss is worthy to keep the most freedom intact.

On the other hand there is a chilling effect on speech, the fear it cause in
others potential site and service creators who could give up instead of
creating for fear of this kind of public drama.

[1] [http://forum.flightradar24.com/threads/5217-Blocked-
flights?...](http://forum.flightradar24.com/threads/5217-Blocked-
flights?p=32686&viewfull=1#post32686)

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pjc50
Open flight information has in the past been used to track both the world's
biggest illegal arms dealer Viktor Bout, and also the CIA rendition-to-torture
flights.

~~~
troisx
This is why they want the information blocked. If you look at the list of
blocked names, it's the government and the wealthy.

~~~
mootothemax
_If you look at the list of blocked names, it 's the government and the
wealthy._

I wouldn't say this is very insightful; how many large jets _aren 't_ operated
by the government or the wealthy?

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gadders
My key takeaway - Holy shit! The Crossfit people have a plane!!

~~~
sorenjan
I noticed that too. Turns out it's a small single engine plane.

[http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NN...](http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=123FU)
[http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/008612.html](http://www.crossfit.com/mt-
archive2/008612.html)

~~~
tacticus
It's an awesome plane though. I've met a few people who have flown the cirrus
planes.

~~~
strictnein
Yep. It's the one with the parachute.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_SR22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_SR22)

~~~
gadders
WOD:

\- Fly to 15,000 feet

\- Deploy Parachute

\- AMRAP

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mdekkers
lol @ N1757 - Google Jet -
[http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/N1757](http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/N1757)

Privacy is only overrated for others...

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United857
FYI - anyone can request to the FAA that their registration be blocked from
tracking on these websites, and compliance is mandatory for users of the FAA
data feed. (FR24 does use FAA data in U.S. Airspace.)

So likely FR24 is just basing their block list (at least for US registered
aircraft) from this.

[http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/asdi/](http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/asdi/)

