BN> Where in the communications law does it say that listening to
BN> cordless phones is against the law. The law only pertains to cell
BN> phones but many are reading into the law that it means cordless
BN> phones also.
This has been discussed to death, but.....
(I suggest you save this and refer to it whenever you're in doubt about the 
law)
>From: mulligan@ACM.ORG (F. Barry Mulligan)
>Subject: Re: cell phones and ECPA
>Organization: ACM Network Services
>
>curious@here.now asked:
>> What is the true story on cell scanning.  I have heard that:
>> 1.  It is illegal to sell scanners that receive cell freqs.
>> 2.  It is illegal to scan cell freqs.
>> 3.  It is illegal to divulge what one hears on cell freqs.
>> I tend to think that # 1 and #3 are true.  but is #2?
>> Has anyone who knows what is what read the ECPA and understand it?
>
>    The questions keep coming up, different laws are mentioned, and most
>replies are of the form "I'll do anything I bloody well please and no law
>can stop me". The following is a short disertation on the various laws and
>their effect.
>
>    The laws of the United States, passed by Congress, are codified as the
>United States Code (USC). It is divided into titles covering various 
>subjects.
>Title 18 includes the criminal laws and penalties; Title 47 covers
>telecommunications. A law can be refered to by its original name (i.e. "The
>Communication Act of 1934") or its entry in the USC. A specific section
>would be refered to by title/USC/part/section, i.e. 47 USC 605.
>    To carry out the law, the various government agencies create 
egulations,
>which are codified as the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is likewise
>divided into titles, with the FCC's rules in 47 CFR.
>
>    18 USC 119 bars the disclosure of any electronic communications to
>which you are not a party (with certain legal exceptions), and sets the
>penalties.  47 USC 605 (the Communications Act of 1934) also bans the
>disclosure or use of third-party communications. With minor changes, this
>has been the law for 60 years.
>
>    In 1986 Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (the
>ECPA), which added definitions to the law that banned listening to cellular
>telephones. It also banned the monitoring of broadcast auxiliary, SCA and
>scrambled signals.
>
>    In 1992 Congress passed the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution
>Act (TDDRA), which instructed the FCC to ban the manufacture or import of
>scanners capable of receiving cellular. In accordance with this law, the FCC
>modified 47 CFR Parts 2 & 15, effective 26 April 1993. Note that this does
>not affect the sale of such scanners, so long as they were made or imported
>before the cutoff date. It also does not bar individuals from modifying
>their receivers.
>
>    On 25 Oct 94, the Digital Telephony act was signed. Buried in one of the
>additional sections was a change to 18 USC 2510 & 2511 that added cordless
>phones to the original ECPA ban on receiving cellular.
>
>    In short:
>It is illegal to manufacture or import cellular-capable scanners.
>It is illegal to listen to cellular (and cordless) transmissions.
>It is illegal to divulge any communication to which you are not a party.
>
>Now, please - we all know the first two are:  1) stupid;  2) unenforceable;
>and  3) widely ignored. It is not really necessary to post the obvious to
>the whole world (unless you have an irresistable urge to demonstrate even
>less sense than the legislators who enacted them).
... Everybody talks about reality, but nobody does anything about it.
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