would like to know....

[CURIOUS]

hi there, i am unsure if im in the right dept for this, a friend of a friend of mine has this radio, he's a ret pd officer...he has this radio in his personal vehical,well he does p.i work p/t anyways, and if you drive around anywhere u can pick up peoples phone calls,meaning listen in on conversations thats on cordless,or even cell phones and pd activites,fd...and things like that...what do u call thos radios???

 

[loumaag]

hi there, i am unsure if im in the right dept for this, a friend of a friend of mine has this radio, he's a ret pd officer...he has this radio in his personal vehical,well he does p.i work p/t anyways, and if you drive around anywhere u can pick up peoples phone calls,meaning listen in on conversations thats on cordless,or even cell phones and pd activites,fd...and things like that...what do u call thos radios???

Illegal?

 

[CURIOUS]

i guess only pd or other officals whould use them is that right?

 

[N_Jay]

hi there, i am unsure if im in the right dept for this, a friend of a friend of mine has this radio, he's a ret pd officer...he has this radio in his personal vehical,well he does p.i work p/t anyways, and if you drive around anywhere u can pick up peoples phone calls,meaning listen in on conversations thats on cordless,or even cell phones and pd activites,fd...and things like that...what do u call thos radios???

Sounds like a scanner.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I agree with "illegal" regardless of who is using it. Monitoring cordless and cellular radio phone calls is a violation of federal law. Police are required to have a warrant based on specific suspicion about an individual whose calls they want to monitor before they can listen, and then they must intercept only those calls that pertain to the investigation. A cop who goes around scanning phone bands (if that is what the officer in question is really doing) is breaking the law.

 

[n4voxgill]

Is that you Cobra?

 

[N_Jay]

I agree with "illegal" regardless of who is using it. Monitoring cordless and cellular radio phone calls is a violation of federal law. Police are required to have a warrant based on specific suspicion about an individual whose calls they want to monitor before they can listen, and then they must intercept only those calls that pertain to the investigation. A cop who goes around scanning phone bands (if that is what the officer in question is really doing) is breaking the law.

IS it illegal to listen, or illegal to disclose and/or profit?

 

[loumaag]

IS it illegal to listen, or illegal to disclose and/or profit?

Depends. Telephone - illegal to listen at all. Public Service, LMR, etc., illegal to disclose and/or profit.

 

[INDY72]

Correct- Telephone conversations unless rebroadcast over a radio patch are 100% illegal to monitor unless your an LEO with a valid warrent for a tap. SMR type stuff such as- Nextel -if you could hear iDen digital, would be legal to monitor, but illegal to disclose, or to use for profit.

 

[CURIOUS]

in response

ok i understand now...but isnt that what scanning is..listening in on. whether or not it phones or to other scanners. i dont know well it good to know anyways.so what would that box be then if it so illegal. and how is it out on the market. just wondering...

 

[INDY72]

ALL scanners not only are designed to NOT recieve certian bandwidth- cellular... but all come with a disclaimer stating the ECPA's basic fact: A: Its illegal to monitor phone. B: Its illegal to intercept intentionally encrypted etc.... C: Its illegal to intentionally intercept certian types of PAGER transmissions. D: It is illegal to divulge in detail what you hear on a scanner, or to use siad info to gain profit.

90% of what is broadcast over the air is legal to listen to. Thus what a scanner is for.

A lil bit of homework on the topic will quickly yield the info your seeking.

Look up scanners and scanning, scanning legally, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Do a search on the boards here.. the topics have been covered very thouroughly.

 

[n4voxgill]

This is a very complicated subject, What Can You Monitor And What Is Illegal. Monitoring Times had an attorney write an article on the subject. The ECPA was passed in 1986, but another law was passed in 1995 that is much more restrictive. I encourage everyone to read the article and make up your mind. ONly part of the law is aimed at cellular frequencies. Here is one comment from the article:

However, on October 25, 1994, Public Law 103-414 was enacted. This law amended the ECPA to provide equal treatment to cordless telephone conversations as cellular ones. However, it also amended the definition of "readily accessible to the general public" to exclude all "electronic communications." As noted above, electronic communications include virtually all radio communications. And so, as the law now stands, there is virtually no radio communication that is "readily accessible to the general public." In essence, the lawmakers have closed up tight this most useful exception to the general rule.



The federal government has cracked down hard on radio listening. At this point the only legal listening outside the broadcast bands is:



(a) a communication relating to ships, aircraft, vehicles or persons in distress;

(b) a broadcast by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile or public safety communications system, including police and fire;

(c) transmissions on the amateur bands, citizens band or general mobile radio services as well as any marine or aeronautical communications system;

(d) satellite transmissions of cable programming as long as the transmission is not encrypted, there is no monetary gain by the viewer, and there is no marketing system available (meaning no one is selling the rights to view the programming via satellite).

(e) a radio transmission which is causing interference with any lawfully operating station (including ham radio operators), or is causing interference with any consumer electronic equipment, to the extent necessary to identify the source of the interference.

Now to me it makes it illegal to listen to Nextel as well as cellular. But as I said you should read up and make up your own mind.

Here is the whole article:

http://www.grove-ent.com/LLawbook.html#Comment