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5
SCANNING LEGALLY
Scanning is a fun and interesting hob-
by. You can hear police and fire de-
partments, ambulance services,
government agencies, private compa-
nies, amateur radio services, aircraft,
and military operations. It is legal to
listen to almost every transmission
your scanner can receive. However,
there are some electronic and wire
communications that are illegal to in-
tentionally intercept. These include:
• Telephone conversations (cellu-
lar, cordless, or other private
means of telephone signal trans-
mission)
• Pager transmissions
• Scrambled or encrypted transmis-
sions
According to the Federal Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (ECPA),
as amended, you could be fined and
possibly imprisoned for intentionally
intercepting, using, or disclosing the
contents of such a transmission un-
less you have the consent of a party to
the communication (unless such activ-
ity is otherwise illegal). These laws
change from time to time and there
might be state or local laws that also
affect legal scanner usage.
20-430.fm Page 5 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM