Q Secrecy of Communications

22l · Post by **22l** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:18 pm

The study guide for the radiotelephone operator rest. cer. aeronautical states under Secrecy of Communications that radio operators are bound to preserve the secrecy of communications and that "no person shall divuluge...etc" at the same time there are lots of sites that stream live ATC intercepting and devulging aeronautical communications

What am I missing?

xsbank · Post by **xsbank** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:05 am

You can listen but you can't tell.

Alex YCV · Post by **Alex YCV** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:06 am

Those ATC monitoring deals are right on the edge of legal. It is a very, very grey area indeed.

22l · Post by **22l** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:21 am

If Im not mistaking Sportys had an audio tape for communications training, with ATC recordings from a XC trip taken by the owner .
Maybe it is legal if the divulging is for educational purposes

Any legal mind in the forum to explain?

Redneck_pilot86 · Post by **Redneck_pilot86** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:43 pm

Can you listen to any Canadian ATC? I've never tried because I'm on dial-up. If its only american ATC, their freedom of information act will supersede anything else.

renfley · Post by **renfley** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:44 pm

Some Canadian atc on the net but mostly american. At least that's my take on things...

Try doing a search on Google, you'll pull up quite a bit of em.

22l · Post by **22l** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:18 pm

Lots of Cand sites on line at LiveATC.net YOW,YUL,YKA,YVR,YWG,YYZ,YQB,YYC
There is an American site JFKTower.com that is run by some controllers from JFK, KDFW live ATC is hosted by a sim. company at the airport so i really dont know how this secrecy staff is interpreted

Lommer · Post by **Lommer** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:10 pm

The bottom line is that the letter of the law and what is enforced are two very different things. That clause was a provision for a law enacted in war-time, it doesn't make much sense these days. Some argue that hooking up your computer to a scanner doesn't count as "divulging" since you are not out there physically telling people, you are merely providing a means of access to the content.

The reality is that those clauses of the law have not been enforced in years, and if one were to get charged with them any decent lawyer would get them shot down. There are thousands of examples of activity that is explicitly prohibited by the law going unpunished and unmentioned for the past 2 decades at least.

Alex YCV · Post by **Alex YCV** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:56 pm

technically, it's also illegal to have a scanner in a moving vehicle in Manitoba... not that it is enforced.

22l · Post by **22l** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:37 pm

Some of the radio regulations were created at the birth of the industry to protect the commercial operators and never changed.If Iremember correctly recently the Supreme Court in the States ruled that the airways are public domain limiting the power of the goverment to impose arbitrary laws.

Good for them!!!