[FedCom] IMPORTANT BAD NEWS - Homeland Security bill includes HR3482

[Jon]

Can you provide the source for the confirmation?

It's not that I doubt something like you describe would be added, It's just that I learned along time ago to verify these types of things before "flaming" my politicians :)  Additionally it is my understanding that as of yesterday, Nov. 14th, 2002, that most of the house and senate had not even read the revised HSA.  So I would really like to read the version in question.

Guess I better turn on the news or C-Span to see if it passed or what is happening.

Jon...

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At 09:57 PM 11/14/02, you wrote:

>        I have confirmed that the version of the Homeland Security Act
>passed in the House does in fact contain the language eliminating the
>hobby safe harbor for interception of radio communications not "readily
>accessible to the general public" under the ECPA.   Such an
>interception, once a minor offense for the first offender if not for
>commercial advantage or private financial gain or in furtherance of a
>crime will now be a major felony with 5 years in jail as penalties.
>
>        No mercy for a first offense, or for signals extremely
>readily intercepted on common scanners.
>
>        This now means that tuning in the audio from the flying traffic
>reporter's feed to the local radio stations to see about a tie up ahead
>on the freeway is a felony that could land you in jail for five years.  
>And woa under him who even thinks about tuning the 46 and 49 mhz band to
>see what is there... or ever listening with his ears to the beeps and
>buzzes of powerful pager transmitters that still transmit the odd voice
>page intermixed with the POCSAG and FLEX.
>