Comment by mindcrime
1 day ago
Don't quote me on this, but I believe there's some more nuance to the cellular band issue. What's restricted, AFAIK, isn't simply receiving traffic on those frequencies in and of itself, but:
1. Decrypting those communications if they are encrypted
and
2. Selling equipment designed to receive on those bands.
Of course there's not much purpose in sitting around listening to the digital chirping noises of encrypted traffic, but as I understand it, if that's your hobby, that part is actually legal.
(Also a licensed US ham, not not an expert in anything in particular and definitely not a lawyer)
I would be surprised if it were illegal to tune into something being broadcast in public over the air. Decryption is a different story.
Get ready to be surprised, because the 800Mhz band used for AMPS (1G / analog cellular) was explicitly carved off as a no-receive zone by Congress because AT&T was pissed[0] anyone could just listen in on any cellphone conversation. I'm told the law actually makes it really difficult to legally sell fully open software-defined radios (SDR), even though nobody uses analog cellular anymore, because you still have to design the SDR to be tamper-proof against attempts to receive 800Mhz.
[0] Wikipedia also mentions the existence of cloning tools that would let you copy any AMPS subscriber ID and program another phone with the same number, stealing the subscriber's account. I suspect AT&T was more angry about that.
I can't find anything supporting the notion that it's illegal to receive those frequencies IF you own hardware for doing so. What I can find, is where they made it illegal to sell such equipment[1]. But it doesn't say pre-existing equipment is banned so presumably a pre-ban scanner or radio would still be legal. But again, that's only with regards to actually receiving the signal. Listening to it, if it's a cellular call, or decrypting it if it's encrypted, would presumably be illegal under other statutes.
(d) Cellular telecommunications receivers (1) Within 180 days after October 28, 1992, the Commission shall prescribe and make effective regulations denying equipment authorization (under part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other part of that title) for any scanning receiver that is capable of— (A) receiving transmissions in the frequencies allocated to the domestic cellular radio telecommunications service, (B) readily being altered by the user to receive transmissions in such frequencies, or (C) being equipped with decoders that convert digital cellular transmissions to analog voice audio. (2) Beginning 1 year after the effective date of the regulations adopted pursuant to paragraph (1), no receiver having the capabilities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1), as such capabilities are defined in such regulations, shall be manufactured in the United States or imported for use in the United States.
That said, the law is complicated and there could be some other pertinent statute that I'm not aware of.
EDIT: OK, this gets even weirder. I haven't followed every line of this through in detail, so take this with the amount of salt you consider appropriate. But according to ChatGPT, the FCC, in this order:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-25-85A1.pdf?utm_...
effectively repealed this restriction. What makes it weird is that the statute itself is apparently still on the books, but the FCC seems to have exercised their rule-making authority to say "this no longer applies". Here's what appears to be the relevant sections:
We have identified 36 rule provisions, totaling 12,008 words and covering more than 25 pages in the Code of Federal Regulations, that no longer serve the public interest because they regulate obsolete technology,4 are no longer used in practice by the FCC, industry, or the public,5 or are otherwise outdated or unnecessary.6 Applying the “good cause” standard discussed above, we conclude that prior notice and comment are unnecessary before repealing the rules identified in the Appendix.
and contained within one of those footnotes:
15.121 (contains provisions to protect consumers’ privacy from technology that is now obsolete);
[1]: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2004-title47/pdf/...
A functioning Congress would find it absolutely laughable that you could be disallowed from receiving/listening to certain bands of electromagnetic waves, drawing an analogy to being forced to look away every time someone shines a spotlight of a particular color frequency in public. Absolutely ridiculous. Radio is not a wire and should never be treated as such. Unfortunately, we do not and may never have had a functioning Congress.