David Brown wrote:
On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 02:24:44AM -0700, SJS wrote:
Otherwise, how do I know that I have permission to listen to 89.5 in
the car? It's available... but if that doesn't imply permission,
then what would? Do I have to write the radio station a letter, asking
if I could kindly listen in to their broadcast?
You do not have permission to listen to arbitrary RF signals that fall onto
your property. For many years, elevator music was broadcast via Subsidiary
Communication Authority subcarrier. This is a subscription service, and it
is illegal in the US to receive it without paying a subscription fee.
You have indeed been granted permission to listen to 89.5. It is in the FM
radio band which has been set aside for public broadcasts.
It is also illegal to listen to someone elses cellular phone conversation,
or to their cordless phone conversation.
Since these things are fairly easy to listen to, most services have moved
to using encoded or encrypted signals to make decoding more difficult.
Also, decrypting a signal without authorization violates another set of
laws as well.
David
The FCC rule used to be (still is?) that you are not allowed to receive
such signals, but if you do, you aren't allowed to let others listen
to/watch them, but if you do, you're not allowed to charge them for it.
And illegal does not necessarily mean wrong. It is illegal to play the
radio in your barbershop or elevator without paying ASCAP. But it's
certainly not wrong in my book.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
Content wants to be owned
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