WASHINGTON-Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) revamped his previously proposed bill aimed at strengthening and clarifying rules against electronic eavesdropping via scanners and other devices to include language that protects all wireless equipment from intrusions on conversations.
During the markup of the Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act of 1997 last Wednesday, Tauzin submitted his substitute bill, which expands one introduced earlier this fall. The new bill, voted unanimously by the subcommittee on telecommunications, trade and consumer protection to move to the full committee, instructs the Federal Communications Commission to write new and tweak existing rules that deny authorization of scanning devices capable of:
receiving transmissions in the cellular range,
being altered to receive such transmissions,
being equipped with decoders that can break digital cellular and personal communications services protocols along with analog specialized mobile radio transmissions, and
converting paging messages into text.
Public-safety transmissions and other conversations on shared channels-including amateur radio-are exempt from these restrictions because users have accepted that their transmissions can be intercepted.
Tauzin also inserted language that asks the commission to consider requiring warning labels on scanning devices that would apprise the users of the privacy laws and their consequences.
“The Personal Communications Industry Association has been working with Chairman Tauzin and other members of Congress for some time to find ways to enhance wireless privacy,” commented President Jay Kitchen. “The wireless industry has zero tolerance when it comes to scanning, eavesdropping or intercepting voice or paging messages. This legislation offers vital new protection for wireless privacy by cracking down on electronic peeping Toms.”
