Miata Mailing List: March 2000, Message #139

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On Mar 1, 2000 Sonja62786@aol.com wrote:
> I wonder how they ever got away with making them illegal in some states. If I 

As I understand it, the ban has been challenged, unsuccessfully, in
court.

> remember correctly, although not every citizen has the right to broadcast a 
> signal without proper authorization or license, it is every citizen's right 
> to receive any signal whatsoever, the only restictions being that of improper 
> disclosure. Or that was the deal last time I took Uncle Charlies' little exam 
> to get my ticket years ago.

Well, I believe that changed with the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act, which made it illegal to listen in on cellular phone
calls (or to manufacture equipment capable of it).

Incidentally, someone replied privately to my original post saying
that he believed that radar detectors had recently been made illegal
in California.  I'm not aware of any such law, a quick search of the
online CA vehicle code didn't turn up any laws specifically banning them,
and the V-1 sitting openly on my dash didn't generate any extra tickets
from the nice CHP officer who pulled me over a couple months ago for 78
in a 65 (on my way to traffic school, no less).

--Ian
'99 Emerald Mica LP
Team Valentine One