WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) said he will sponsor legislation to expand legal privacy protection for wireless communications and outlaw all modifications of radio scanners that enable electronic eavesdropping.
At the same time, lawmakers at last Wednesday’s hearing criticized the wireless telecom industry for not doing more to protect the privacy of the nation’s 45 million mobile phones users and chastised the Federal Communications Commission, Justice Department and FBI for lax enforcement of existing laws.
Officials from the three agencies, who conceded as much, promised to crack down on firms that alter radio scanners to pick up cellular conversations, apparently a thriving business promoted widely on the Internet and in trade publications.
The cellular privacy issue gained national attention recently when House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and other GOP leaders were overheard on a radio scanner by a Florida couple with Democratic ties, discussing political strategy in connection with an ethics probe of Gingrich. One of the lawmakers participating in the conference call, House Republican Conference Chairman John Boehner of Ohio, used a cellular phone.
Gingrich is not alone. Other political and high-profile figures also have been caught talking about sensitive matters on cellular phones.
“If Americans feel they cannot speak freely over their wireless phones for fear of a third party listening, the confidence we enjoy in a free society is undermined,” said Tauzin, a close ally of Gingrich, in his first appearance as new subcommittee head.
But despite expressions of support for a legislative fix by Tauzin, Edward Markey (D-Mass.), ranking Democrat on the panel, and others, there does not appear to be a consensus among lawmakers or within the industry on how best to curb unauthorized electronic eavesdropping.
Lawmakers, who witnessed a demonstration on how scanners can be easily rigged to access cellular channels, came down particularly hard on Bob Grove, a North Carolina businessman who markets the monitoring devices and after-sale modifications.
“It is illegal,” said Markey, who, after a fiery exchange with Grove, vowed to shut down Grove Enterprises Inc.’s scanner alteration business.
Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, accused Grove of thumbing his nose at Congress by promoting “electronic stalking” and blamed federal officials as well. “The law and its enforcement have been inadequate,” exclaimed Wheeler.
Grove disagreed, arguing he operates within the law and that hostility towards the scanner industry is misplaced.
In 1986, Congress made it illegal to intentionally intercept and disclose contents of wireless telephones calls and in 1992 banned radio scanners capable of receiving 800 MHz cellular frequencies or of being readily altered by the user.
Violators can receive up to five years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines. But current scanner restrictions apply only to cellular communications, leaving paging, specialized mobile radio, mobile satellite, wireless LANs, cordless telephones and other wireless services vulnerable to eavesdropping.
Grove’s company sells legal radio scanners by mail order and offers to reconfigure the devices-a relatively simple process involving the addition of a wire-to expand the range of frequencies that can be tuned in. The key is keeping the sale separate from the alteration, and having it done by a third party, not the user.
“Instead of indicting citizens for listening to their radios, or vilifying small businesses who flounder in the quagmire of ambiguous and ineffectual rules and regulations … tell the millions of scanner owners now watching that the only way to ensure privacy on cellular telephones is to implement the inexpensive, effective technology promised many years ago,” said Grove.
That point was not lost on lawmakers, who pressed Wheeler to explain why the wireless industry has not done a better job of informing consumers about lack of cellular privacy and taking technical measures-such as encrypting analog signals-to protect subscribers’ privacy.
Indeed, even the wireless industry is divided over whether a technical solution or more legislation (or both) best addresses illegal electronic eavesdropping.
Jay Kitchen, president of the Personal Communications Industry Association, said the new digital personal communications services will solve the problem because the next-generation pocket phones are more secure than analog cellular phones.
Despite all the fanfare, it is unclear how serious a problem electronic eavesdropping is and whether any laws-no matter how tough-can be effectively enforced in a predominantly analog wireless environment that is slowly moving into the digital age.
It is estimated that several hundred thousand of the 10 million to 20 million scanners in the United States have been modified to received cellular frequencies.
“We don’t want to pass a law that can’t be enforced,” said Rick White, an influential second-term Republican from Washington whose district includes high-tech firms.
William Kennard, general counsel of the FCC, said only a handful of complaints have been registered with the agency. Kennard, asked by Markey why the FCC hasn’t responded sooner to heavy marketing of scanner modifications, said it was a matter of priorities. But he hinted that the FCC dispute with Grove over scanner modification would be dealt with firmly.
