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.
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