I have been involved in the radio scanning hobby for about 17 years. I run a blog and post my loggings fairly often.
Recently a company has emailed me, asking me not to post the fact that I am able to listen to them, this is not the content of the communications but the fact that the communication takes place.
The only "law" around scanning I know of is that you can't listen to telephone calls, this is covered by the telecommunications (interception) act. Over the years I have also heard / read a couple of "common sense" rules which I agree with.
- Don't repeat what you hear to third persons (If you hear your boss gets caught drinking driving don't go and tell other people)
- Don't use what you hear for commercial gain (such as tow truck drivers turning up at accidents to get work)
- Don't use what you hear to assist with committing a crime. (Listening to the police to know where they are to not get caught committing a crime)
Now this company rents this frequency off a two way radio rental company, via some detective work I have worked out who the user is, this is what I am listing on my blog.
I am in two minds about this, I don't want to piss off this company but I don't think listing the company name is an issue. To me the "content" of the communications should not be shared but the fact that company X uses 71.675MHz is not a problem. The email is fairly informal at this stage. How would you approach this?
Recently a company has emailed me, asking me not to post the fact that I am able to listen to them, this is not the content of the communications but the fact that the communication takes place.
The only "law" around scanning I know of is that you can't listen to telephone calls, this is covered by the telecommunications (interception) act. Over the years I have also heard / read a couple of "common sense" rules which I agree with.
- Don't repeat what you hear to third persons (If you hear your boss gets caught drinking driving don't go and tell other people)
- Don't use what you hear for commercial gain (such as tow truck drivers turning up at accidents to get work)
- Don't use what you hear to assist with committing a crime. (Listening to the police to know where they are to not get caught committing a crime)
Now this company rents this frequency off a two way radio rental company, via some detective work I have worked out who the user is, this is what I am listing on my blog.
I am in two minds about this, I don't want to piss off this company but I don't think listing the company name is an issue. To me the "content" of the communications should not be shared but the fact that company X uses 71.675MHz is not a problem. The email is fairly informal at this stage. How would you approach this?