Post by Sandbagger on Dec 17, 2016 20:32:41 GMT -5
This subject has been bandied about off and on for several years on various forums and over the air. I bring this up again, because I was sandbagging the other day (what, why do you think I'm called sandbagger?) and I overheard someone talking about this subject. He was mistaken, as so many others in the past, when he claimed that you are not allowed to record someone over the radio unless they give you expressed permission (I think he was confusing radio with wiretap laws). He even quoted some section in the CFR federal regulations. Well I located the appropriate rule (47 U.S. Code ยง 605) and it states:
"Except as authorized by chapter 119, title 18, no person receiving, assisting in receiving, transmitting, or assisting in transmitting, any interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception, (1) to any person other than the addressee, his agent, or attorney, (2) to a person employed or authorized to forward such communication to its destination, (3) to proper accounting or distributing officers of the various communicating centers over which the communication may be passed, (4) to the master of a ship under whom he is serving, (5) in response to a subpena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or (6) on demand of other lawful authority. No person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any radio communication and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted communication to any person. No person not being entitled thereto shall receive or assist in receiving any interstate or foreign communication by radio and use such communication (or any information therein contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto. No person having received any intercepted radio communication or having become acquainted with the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) knowing that such communication was intercepted, shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) or use such communication (or any information therein contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto."
Sounds pretty straightforward despite the legalese. But there is an exception and here that is:
"This section shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress, or that which is transmitted by an amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator."
Essentially what the law states in simple terms is that you are not allowed to intercept or record, disseminate, or divulge the contents of a radio transmission where the parties involved have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Examples of this would be cell phones, cordless phone (Uh oh!), encrypted computer messages over WiFi, etc. However, radio services which are public in nature (like ham and CB radio) have no expectation of privacy (even on that secret freeband channel you sneak off to), so there is no restriction on recording people. I mean, if it were illegal, why do many different radios have record jacks on them?
"Except as authorized by chapter 119, title 18, no person receiving, assisting in receiving, transmitting, or assisting in transmitting, any interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception, (1) to any person other than the addressee, his agent, or attorney, (2) to a person employed or authorized to forward such communication to its destination, (3) to proper accounting or distributing officers of the various communicating centers over which the communication may be passed, (4) to the master of a ship under whom he is serving, (5) in response to a subpena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or (6) on demand of other lawful authority. No person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any radio communication and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted communication to any person. No person not being entitled thereto shall receive or assist in receiving any interstate or foreign communication by radio and use such communication (or any information therein contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto. No person having received any intercepted radio communication or having become acquainted with the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) knowing that such communication was intercepted, shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication (or any part thereof) or use such communication (or any information therein contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto."
Sounds pretty straightforward despite the legalese. But there is an exception and here that is:
"This section shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress, or that which is transmitted by an amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator."
Essentially what the law states in simple terms is that you are not allowed to intercept or record, disseminate, or divulge the contents of a radio transmission where the parties involved have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Examples of this would be cell phones, cordless phone (Uh oh!), encrypted computer messages over WiFi, etc. However, radio services which are public in nature (like ham and CB radio) have no expectation of privacy (even on that secret freeband channel you sneak off to), so there is no restriction on recording people. I mean, if it were illegal, why do many different radios have record jacks on them?
that could be used against me in the court of law, haha
