FAA ADS-B Privacy option

[deke]

Is this the beginning of a possible slow end for using radar apps to enhance our hobby?

Sad news for innocent US spotters.

generalaviationnews.com/2019/11/06/faa-develops-plan-to-preserve-aircraft-owners-privacy-as-ads-b-becomes-mandatory/

[Jeff]

I wonder if this only affects the likes of FR24, plane finder etc? Where would radar box and SBS fit into this

[monarch01]

Jeff,

FR24 & Planefinder already comply with the "BARR" system (Whereby Aircraft Registration data is not displayed), this is done at the website level, and it is up to the individual website / organisation whether they want to adhere to BARR or not, basically the information is still transmitted by the aircraft, it just appears as "BLOCKED" on some websites. With ADS-B you are essentially taking the raw data from the aircraft ADS-B transmissions and displaying it in graphic form, so whatever is transmitting will be displayed, with SBS receivers this works the same way, you still get your raw data unfiltered. (You obtain aircraft registration data because part of the ADS-B transmission is a HEX code which is (in theory) unique to that registration / airframe)

With the new FAA legislation :-

" Under Phase 1 of the “Privacy ICAO Address (PIA) Program,” which is expected to be in place by Jan.1, 2020, the FAA will set up a web portal to accept requests from aircraft owners who wish to block real-time ADS-B position and identification information for their aircraft. These owners will be issued an alternative, temporary International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aircraft address, which will not be connected to their aircraft information in the FAA Aircraft Registry. "

Ok, when i said earlier that registration data is derived from a transmitted HEX code, to convert this HEX code to an aircraft registration requires a database, which correlate the two pieces of data. These are at the moment freely available, indeed all the flight tracking websites use them to display registration data. What the FAA are now proposing is that their will be a Facility to Generate a one time HEX code for each flight, this Hex code will be communicated to the air traffic providers along the aircraft route, so that they are able to identify the aircraft. So the aircraft will still transmit a HEX code, it just will not appear in any Commercial / hobbyists databases because it will only be used the once., hence no HEX / Registration tie-up will be possible.

Hope that helps

Adrian

[Jeff]

Hi Adrian,
Yes thanks for the insight, I guess spotters logs of arriving aircraft on the day tieing up a spoof hex to a reg would be on the cards in the future. I was also under the impression that a hex code within the adsb equipment on aircraft is not a simple job, unless this has been fixed one would guess that a new hex code will not be set for every flight but more than likely at each service