News media scanning

[dynamitesc03]

Would love to know what software they are using from you kc2ysl.

 

[KA1NTG]

It's against the law for them to use the information they hear for their own personal gain. It's because of them that we're facing more and more agencies encrypting.

Care to quote that law?

 

[mikepdx]

The Communications Act
Section 705 prohibits a person from using an
intercepted radio communication for his or her own benefit.

Interception and Divulgence of Radio Communications | FCC.gov

 

[tampabaynews]

Once again, here come the Self Appointed Radio Reference Police...

And once again, I think they miss the intended purpose of that law.

"Section 705 prohibits a person from using an intercepted radio communication for his or her own benefit. One court held that, under this provision, a taxicab company may sue its competitor for wrongfully intercepting and using for its benefit radio communications between the company’s dispatchers and drivers. A more recent Supreme Court decision, however, questions the ability of the government to regulate the disclosure of legally-obtained radio communications, and this area of the law remains unsettled."

I do understand that this is off topic from the original post but I felt it was necessary to address the comment.

 

[DickH]

Sorry, but so so wrong in your statement. :roll:

No, the first part of his statement is correct, but seldom, if ever, enforced.
"It's against the law for them to use the information they hear for their own personal gain."

 

[jonwienke]

^^^citation needed

There is nothing in the link that says anything about news media monitoring LE/fire/EMS for the purpose of gathering news.

 

[AZScanner]

Check out the movie now showing Nightcrawler,it shows a great setup of Uniden and GRE digital rigs.

I'm torn on whether or not I want to watch this movie. Sure, seeing Hollywood's idea of a news stringer sounds fun, but at the same time I feel like I will walk away from this movie feeling like stormchasers do after they watch Twister: Great idea for a movie, but with way too many glaringly ridiculous factual errors or just outright Hollywood BS to keep me involved in the story. Probably going to wait for the DVD release of this one. That way I can at least pause it and call "BS" now and then.

-AZ

 

[kd5wzr]

No, the first part of his statement is correct, but seldom, if ever, enforced.
"It's against the law for them to use the information they hear for their own personal gain."

Enforcement is rare because the law is effectively unenforceable toward media companies due to the First Amendment. Police frequency encryption is being justified by a perceived need to reduce eavesdropping by bad guys, not nosy reporters or some ham in his shack.

 

[SCPD]

I know majority of El paso area news outlets and El paso times have a mix of modern scanner equip some old inside rather using streaming as primary means and newer same for las cruces to otero and roswell. I've seen some camera men have there own they invest in some installing into the van they operate or just go to portables. I know a few who use the forbidden to mention passive method also.

 

[AnikF1R]

A bank of six BCD996T Uniden Bearcats at my old TV station.

 

[cbehr91]

The station I work for in Dayton, Ohio has 4 Uniden BCD996XTs and 1 BCD996T in our newsroom monitoring area police, fire and EMS. The two stations in Columbus I've visited used BCD996XTs in their newsrooms, too. I don't know if our live trucks and mobiletrak units have scanners in them.

 

[cherubim]

Enforcement is rare because the law is effectively unenforceable toward media companies due to the First Amendment. Police frequency encryption is being justified by a perceived need to reduce eavesdropping by bad guys, not nosy reporters or some ham in his shack.

"perceived need to reduce eavesdropping by bad guys" ?

That's a ludicrous statement given how long scanners have been around and besides there are more "good" guys listening than bad guys but I digress.

The real reasons in this day and age of paranoia why radio traffic is encrypted is to protect the privacy of sensitive information and to erode any sense of accountability and transparency. "Covering your ***" seems to be a good enough excuse for many agencies to use encryption. Whether it's ethical is another matter.