wm@tekchips.UUCP (Wm Leler) (08/16/85)
I've seen several people make the claim that the federal government cannot restrict reception of radio signals. This is certainly not true. The radio spectrum is an international resource, and we are party to several treaties with nations that do not have the same outlook on the issues of freedom as we do. In particular, if you listen to a radio transmission that is not from a broadcast station, you are specifically prohibited by law from repeating anything you hear to anyone else. This question, of course, has almost nothing to do with net.auto, and I have no desire to start any discussion here, but I have seen too many people make the argument that since you are free to pick up any radio signal and do with it what you will, that radar detectors cannot be illegal. Reception of satellite TV is legal because the signals are meant for broadcast. Listening to private satellite transmissions (for example, phone calls) is not necessarily legal, and in many cases is illegal. Now, police radar may or may not be an invasion of privacy, but that is a whole 'nother matter. It certainly isn't any more of an invasion of privacy than being (electronically or otherwise) searched everytime I take a flight on a commercial airline. Again, let's not start that discussion here (but if you want to discuss it in another group, I'm game!) Wm Leler