Question about feeds be used for profit

[Maddog1404]

It recently came to my attention that the feeds we provide here are be used for profit by an Iphone application company.

>> > The Associated Press State & Local Wire
>> >
>> > June 30, 2009 Tuesday 8:01 AM GMT
>> >
>> > DATELINE: TUCSON Ariz.
>> >
>> > A pair of Tucson brothers aim to render police scanners obsolete.
>> >
>> > Parker and Marshall Minardo, owners of a software company called
>> > EdgeRift,
>> > created a $1 iPhone application called Emergency Radio that gives users
>> > access to more than 1,200 radio feeds from police, fire and emergency
>> > frequencies around the country.
>> >
>> > Within days of its launch in early May, the application shot up to No.
>> > 2
>> on
>> > Apple's list of paid applications. As of Friday, Emergency Radio was
>> > still
>> > ranked in the top 40.
>> >
>> > More than 180,000 iPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded
>> > Emergency
>> > Radio, and the application is currently averaging between 1,000 and
>> > 1,200
>> > downloads per day, said 20-year-old Parker, Edgerift's CEO.
>> >
>> > The Minardos who run the business out of their Tucson home keep 70
>> > cents
>> > from each sale, so the application is making the brothers flush with
>> > cash.
>> >
>> > "Maybe we'll go out to breakfast," deadpanned Marshall, 26, the company
>> > president. "We haven't made any plans to celebrate. We're just trying
>> > to
>> > keep it going."
>> >
>> > A free version of the application, which lets you listen to emergency
>> feeds
>> > in a few big cities, has been downloaded 80,000 times.
>> >
>> > The application taps into the groundwork laid by ScanAmerica part of
>> > the
>> > RadioReference.com network which streams the scanner feeds. Emergency
>> Radio
>> > makes the feeds easy to access on the iPhone and also lists the police,
>> fire
>> > and rescue squads' codes and their definitions so you can understand
>> > what
>> > the emergency workers are talking about.
>> >
>> > EdgeRift was not exactly an overnight success.
>> >
>> > It all started in 2001, when Parker started developing applications for
>> > personal digital assistants.
>> >
>> > He and Marshall formed a business called PDA Performance that found
>> limited
>> > success selling applications that organized contacts and streamlined
>> > the
>> > user interface.
>> >
>> > In 2004, the company moved to Tucson so Marshall could earn a political
>> > science degree from the University of Arizona. The brothers relaunched
>> > the
>> > company as EdgeRift in February 2008 and shifted the focus to
>> > developing
>> > software for the burgeoning iPhone.
>> >
>> > "All the top apps were entertainment and games, and we were thinking of
>> > what would be fun and exciting on the iPhone," Parker said. "It kind of
>> > occurred to us that with all the online feeds from emergency and police
>> > scanners, there was no easy way to access them and play them on the
>> iPhone.
>> > We thought it would be great if we could do that."
>> >
>> > It took the duo four weeks to put the application together, with Parker
>> > handling programming while Marshall worked on logistics, such as
>> > customer
>> > support and day-to-day operations. Apple approved the application on
>> > April
>> > 18 and released it in early May.
>> >
>> > Emergency Radio caught fire, picking up 50 sales the first day, then
>> > doubling for the next several days.
>> >
>> > "It appeals to so many different people out there," Parker said.
>> "Policemen
>> > and firemen are e-mailing us, and they're so excited they love it. It
>> really
>> > worked out well."
>> >
>> > The Minardos will release a free update to the program next month and
>> > are considering working on a version for the BlackBerry. The brothers say
they
work 80 hours a week and are considering renting out an office and
hiring
one or more employees to help with the workload.

"It's very strange," Marshall said. "We worked very hard for this one.
We never expected anything like this. It's just unbelievable."


I am very curious to know if RR is involved in this venture and how much they are getting from the sale of these apps.

[blantonl]

We will be working with the iPhone application developers to license access to an application programming interface for live access to our feed directory.

Yes, we will generate revenue from this.

Yes, RadioReference.com is a for-profit entity.

[N0TDL]

i think thats awesome , with severe weather and all i think its great people will have an app like that also inexpensive

Thanks Lindsay

This hobby kicks ***

[DickH]

Originally Posted by blantonl

We will be working with the iPhone application developers to license access to an application programming interface for live access to our feed directory.
Yes, we will generate revenue from this.
Yes, RadioReference.com is a for-profit entity.

A different but related thought.
Selling the software is probably not a violation of a little known and almost never enforced federal law - the Communications Act of 1934. But charging for the actual feed, could be a problem.
The law states, in part, that you cannot repeat what you hear to a third party or make a profit from what you hear (or what a scanner hears?).

[blantonl]

Dick,

We don't charge for the actual feed.

Lindsay

[DickH]

Originally Posted by blantonl

Dick,

We don't charge for the actual feed.

Lindsay

Yes, I realize that. I only mention it because a feed I want to hear, San Francisco fire, is on a site that does charge. I don't think it's right or even legal.

[rdale]

It is "right" and it definitely is legal... This is unrelated to the RR thread - but I'm curious if you can copy-n-paste the part of the law that says those feeds are illegal?

[DickH]

Originally Posted by rdale

It is "right" and it definitely is legal... This is unrelated to the RR thread - but I'm curious if you can copy-n-paste the part of the law that says those feeds are illegal?

If you don't believe me, you look up the law. It's the Communications Act of 1934.

[ScanYak]

I think it is great. Any app that allows people to gain access to to our feeds is a good thing. Isn't that why we provide the feed in the first place? Aren't we wanting to get our listener numbers higher? Don't we check to see if we get into the "top 20"?

I wish someone could come up with an app for my LG nv2 so I could get scanner feeds. I'd pay plenty for it......... Ooops I guess I could buy an iphone.

It's great that Lindsay is looking for more ways to generate revenue. If my feed can help someone to make money, that's awesome. I've already got everything I want out of it. The fun of setting it up and maintaining it and it doesn't cost me anything to get it to the "world".

Thanks for all your work Lindsay and Gordon.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by DickH

If you don't believe me, you look up the law. It's the Communications Act of 1934.

I am familiar with the law... I'm looking for the part that says charging for online feeds is illegal. If you can just copy that section in, I'd believe you

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by ScanYak

It's great that Lindsay is looking for more ways to generate revenue. If my feed can help someone to make money, that's awesome. I've already got everything I want out of it. The fun of setting it up and maintaining it and it doesn't cost me anything to get it to the "world".

My exact sentiments. I'm glad somebody else has said it. This is America. Capitalism thrives. I'm all for Lindsay/RR making money - whether the money to be made is just enough to recuperate operating costs or whether he nets 10K, 100K, a few million a year. A huge amount of work has been put into RR and SA and certainly somebody should make something out of it. I benefit from this site and enjoy it very much. It shouldn't perpetually be a labor of love. I say the sky is the limit. Plus, if the operators of any site can sustain a livelihood, they are more likely to keep making the site better, adding new features, etc.

Same goes for the iPhone app people - if they can make 100k in a few months by selling a $1 app, more power to em. And if they have to pay RR to gain access to an API to allow them to continue to develop/refine their app and provide the feeds in the future, that's awesome for Lindsay. And even if they pay a fee for API access, they iPhone app people are making money.

I love America!

Mike

[DickH]

Originally Posted by rdale

I am familiar with the law... I'm looking for the part that says charging for online feeds is illegal. If you can just copy that section in, I'd believe you

It says something like using what you hear for personal gain. I interpret that to apply to scanner feeds. You may not. The official answer must come from an FCC attorney, I guess.

[mo1dmat]

Maybe RR could strike a deal where all of us providers get applications for free , that uses their system to gets the feeds.

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by mo1dmat

Maybe RR could strike a deal where all of us providers get applications for free , that uses their system to gets the feeds.

Or maybe we could just pay a $1 for the application. If $1 can break somebody's bank, they need to sell off their scanner monitoring gear and pay the bills anyway.

Mike

[mo1dmat]

Originally Posted by mtindor

Or maybe we could just pay a $1 for the application. If $1 can break somebody's bank, they need to sell off their scanner monitoring gear and pay the bills anyway.

Mike

No need to get snotty about it, just would be something nice if they offered it up.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by DickH

It says something like using what you hear for personal gain.

Can you post the exact phrasing? I'm curious...

[MaxTracker]

When all Y'all become un-godly rich, I have a great deal on Bullet proof glass for your Benz's!

[iamhere300]

Originally Posted by ScanYak

I think it is great. Any app that allows people to gain access to to our feeds is a good thing. Isn't that why we provide the feed in the first place? Aren't we wanting to get our listener numbers higher? Don't we check to see if we get into the "top 20"?

I wish someone could come up with an app for my LG nv2 so I could get scanner feeds. I'd pay plenty for it......... Ooops I guess I could buy an iphone.

It's great that Lindsay is looking for more ways to generate revenue. If my feed can help someone to make money, that's awesome. I've already got everything I want out of it. The fun of setting it up and maintaining it and it doesn't cost me anything to get it to the "world".

Thanks for all your work Lindsay and Gordon.

Don't post those thoughts on the livescanneraudio yahoo group. I think those folks are so jealous of Lindsay, that they are militant about that app. I posted something much like your post, was called arrogant, had a sense of entitlement, people wanted to know what boards I posted to, what my HAM call was, dumb, smug, clueless, etc. Moderator moderated my messages (Which were abnormally for me polite) but not their messages.

Anyways, I use the app on my Ipod, and love it. It has caused me to sign up to host my own feed for the RR, and I may end up doing more. If this app can make more people host, AND bring more revenue to RR, where is the downside?

[blantonl]

Yea, that "raffertysec" guy is an idiot....

Check out this quote from him:

Next, Lindsay came on here and via email directly stated that RR would not
charge for the feeds that he bought from Gordon. I challenged him and got smack
in return. As I expected would eventually appear, his statements were dishonest.
I don't care if RR is a good web site. It does not make up for the lie. Those of
us that owns businesses knew that no one in their right mind would buy a
bandwidth sucking, cash sucking, ScanAmerica (kudos nonetheless to Gordon) if he
could not make at least his money back.

It is amazing to me how some people live in a world where they can make stuff up like this.

I wonder where he came up with the notion that all the sudden we're charging for access to the feeds and I "lied" to him.

Amazing.... simply amazing.

[iamhere300]

How often do the apps like Emergency radio update their feed list?