VRT withdraws slur against radio amateurs Belgium's Flemish broadcaster VRT falsely said radio amateurs were likely responsible for the transmission of fictional traffic information to vehicle dashboard screens VRT Niews published the story on August 13, a Google translation of what they said reads: "The burglars are most likely radio amateurs. These are people who have equipment with which they can pick up on an FM frequency. You listen to national channels via different masts that are scattered in Flanders. A radio amateur can then actually connect to a local transmission tower, and in that way forward the false traffic information. That can be seen on the dashboard for a maximum of 15 minutes, until your car is no longer connected to the transmission tower." This was false story was clearly damaging to the reputation of radio amateurs and Belgium's national amateur radio society, the UBA, was quick to respond, contacting VRT and issuing a press release. VRT have since corrected their story. It is not the first time that local traffic information has been disrupted in Belgium. At the beginning of March, drivers between Brussels and Ghent were also given false traffic information. Read the UBA report on the matter in Google English at https://tinyurl.com/BelgiumUBA Read the corrected VRT Niews story at https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/08/13/valse-verkeersinfo-hacking/ http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/august/vrt-withdraws-slur-against-radio-amateurs.htm
Radio amateur: old guy who talks about the weather and his medical issues with other old guys using a big radio thingy with lots of knobs and stuff. Computer hacker: 16 year old loser who messes with communications devices for lulz. (This of course excludes Chinese cyberspies and Russian mobsters.) Get it straight, VRT! Sheesh!
Instead of knee-jerk throwing the entire community of radio amateurs under the bus, VRT should have realized that some of us are probably uniquely positioned and equipped to actually help track down the hacker. Except now they will have to ask us NICELY.
Could have been a CBer... They throw Hams under the bus quite frequently. It's gotten to the point now that Hams and CBers are pretty much considered to be the same. Example: How often do you see illegal CB gear advertised, on Craigslist and Ebay, as Ham gear? This is basically CBers misrepresenting themselves as Hams in order to sell their illegal stuff. Every time something like this happens Ham Radio takes a hit. And, in the public's mind there is not much difference between Hams and CBers now days. Hams used to garner a lot more respect than CBers... Unfortunately, IMO, the CBers have taken Ham Radio down a notch or two. Dan KI4AX
