On Wed, Jul 17, 2002 at 10:04:29AM -0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
Nice post,
Thanks - and sorry for the typos - never trust a dyslexic to proofread...
Could this be warped into affecting wardriving for 802.11b connections? The basestation's emissions could be considered 'private' even though they're not. The traffic could contain unencrypted voice packets, too.
18 USC 2511 (the ECPA) reads ...
Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter any person who
(a) intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication;
....
shall be punished as provided in subsection (4) or shall be subject to suit as provided in subsection (5).
.... THE CRITICAL EXCEPTIONS FOR RADIO SIGNALS FOLLOW...
(g) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person -
(i) 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;
(ii) to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted -
(I) by any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;
(II) 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;
(III) by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or
(IV) by any marine or aeronautical communications system;
(iii) to engage in any conduct which -
(I) is prohibited by section 633 of the Communications Act of 1934; or
(II) is excepted from the application of section 705(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 by section 705(b) of that Act;
(iv) to intercept any wire or electronic communication the transmission of which is causing harmful interference to any lawfully operating station or consumer electronic equipment, to the extent necessary to identify the source of such interference; or
(v) for other users of the same frequency to intercept any radio communication made through a system that utilizes frequencies monitored by individuals engaged in the provision or the use of such system, if such communication is not scrambled or encrypted.
There is a defination of what "readily accessible to the general public" means in section 2510:
(16)
''readily accessible to the general public'' means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not -
(A)
scrambled or encrypted;
(B)
transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(C)
carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(D)
transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging system communication;
or (E)
transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;
Certainly wardriving for encrypted (WEP) signals is very clearly illegal (and now a felony by the way - even before the CSEA becomes law). And wardriving for any access points provided by common carriers (becoming more common in some places I understand as carriers go into that business) would clearly be illegal. But the modulation in 802.11 is public... so nothing is wrong there. And the frequencies are public (and a ham band to boot)... It is quite possible that the frequencies allocated to the amateur radio service clause would apply and trump everything else - especially if you are a ham as most of the 2.4 ghz 802.11b band is also allocated as a ham band. I know of no court tests of whether the cordless phone prohibitions (with cordless phones at both 2.4 ghz and 900 mhz which are both ham bands too) apply to hams intercepting cordless phones that also operate in those bands... nor how that impacts WEP interception. -- Dave Emery N1PRE, die@die.com DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass. PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2 5D 27 BD B0 24 88 C3 18