qworster
join:2001-11-25
Los Angeles, CA
 ·DSL EXTREME
·Brand X Internet
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·Vonage
2 edits | A federal law makes wardriving legal!!
There is a federal law that was passed back in the days of analog cell phones. See, in those days any scanner could pick up cell calls. Congress's response was to pass yet another law (as an aside, does Congress actually believe that the answer to everything is to pass another law?) called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. This law made it illegal to listen to cell calls. That way, if someone asked the sales guy in Radio Shack: "are cell calls private?" the guy could reply: "Oh yes, listening to them is against FEDERAL LAW!". The ECPA is the reason all police scanners are cellular blocked. Also in there is some boilerplate that makes it illegal to monitor Cable TV pickups, Radio and TV studio to transmitter microwave links, etc. I mean they had to have a reason for the law after all (as if it actually stopped people from listening, huh?).
The ECPA also SPECIFICALLY EXEMPTS unlicensed communications devices in the 49, 900, 2100 and 5 gig unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Industrial) bands. The original reason for this was to make it clear that cordless telephones be EXEMPT from this law.
BUT it also means that any WIFI communications is not private BY FEDERAL STATUTE (WIFI b and g operate in the 2100 band, a operates in the 5 gig band)! This is the reason why on the bottom of your device there's a statement about "undesired operation".
Now..it seems to me that this federal law ALLOWS wardriving, at least in the US, since it specifically says that devices operated in these bands neither deserve nor should expect ANY EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY WHATSOEVER!!
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