I'm unfamiliar with radio tech but is the date being sent over these radios encrypted?

Meshtastic is encrypted.

GP's question is legitimate: with e.g. amateur radio, in the US at least, (privately) encrypted communications are legally prohibited.

Regardless, please avoid snark on HN. It does not add value to the conversation.

It's called the Socratic method. The snark is in your head.

Encrypted digital transmission over Lora is legal in the US.

I want to love these things but the first one appears to be unfinished, and the second has hardware you have to assemble and then depends on an android app that appears to be quite flaky from the reviews. I would very much like a radio enabled encrypted communications system to complement Briar, but both of these look extremely iffy currently.

Since there is no obvious disclaimer on the page, I'll add one here for good measure: In most jurisdictions, broadcasting on long-range frequency bands is not permitted without a license. I absolutely encourage people to get involved in this topic, but don't forget to check your local regulations.

Regarding regulations LORA tries to address that problem, from Wikipedia:

LoRa uses license-free sub-gigahertz radio frequency bands like 433 MHz, 868 MHz (Europe), 915 MHz (Australia and North America), 865 MHz to 867 MHz (India) and 923 MHz (Asia).

I wouldn't exactly call those long range frequencies. 20m minimum, moving into 40m, 80m, and 160m for global coverage.