Federal Law Regarding Surveillance

Knowing the law regarding surveillance will help keep you out of trouble.

Federal law states:

“It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public; to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress; by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public safety communications system, including police and fire, readily accessible to the general public; by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or by any marine or aeronautical communications system”

Simply put, this means that any information transmitted over radio waves is fair game. So, you can intercept and record information from two-way radios or any communication that takes place on CB’s or any other type of radio.

Furthermore, federal law states:

“It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for a person acting under color of law to intercept the wire or electronic communications of a computer trespasser transmitted to, through, or from the protected computer, if the owner or operator of the protected computer authorizes the interception of the computer trespasser’s communications on the protected computer; the person acting under color of law is lawfully engaged in an investigation; the person acting under color of law has reasonable grounds to believe that the contents of the computer trespasser’s communications will be relevant to the investigation; and such interception does not acquire communications other than those transmitted to or from the computer trespasser.”

This means that computer communication can be accessed if the person who owns the computer gives permission. Of course, this isn’t likely to happen if the person is guilty of something. But, if an innocent person is receiving communication through his or her computer from someone who is guilty, you can intercept the information from that person’s computer if he or she gives you permission. It is also legal to intercept this communication if there are reasonable grounds that the information will aid in an investigation.