[Scan-DC] Phoenix to shield police radio traffic

[Alan Henney]

I suspect the big picture here is the 1st Amendment.  Telling people who and 
what they can listen to -- or repeat to others -- is a prior restraint. 
Those tow truck drivers might have been able to win if they took it to 
court, but those guys were stealing other driver's jobs, right?  Those are 
local laws.  In some cities that is how they conduct business -- monitoring 
scanners for wrecks.

If the awkwardly worded statutes in the Communications Act prohibiting 
"commercial gain" and divulging communication had broad legal implications, 
a prosecutor would have used it by now... especially against smart phone 
apps which I hold responsible for the rash of agencies encrypting.

In reading court discussions involving the Act, I think these restrictions 
were intended for employees of common carriers such as Verizon to protect 
customers -- not the general public who monitor readily accessible 
communication.

Alan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Hansen" <rick.hansen at apsglobal.com>
To: "Alan Henney" <alan at henney.com>
Cc: "Scan DC" <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Phoenix to shield police radio traffic


Does anyone know if making commercial use of what you hear is still a crime? 
When I was young the tow truck drivers would get busted and fined for making 
commercial use of what they heard!

This comes down to lax enforcement and stupid news crews. And guess what, in 
many cases the media who caused the problem will be given radios later. 
Sigh...