Originally Posted by
Short Final
Erm... I think there's a difference here.
Sure on a personal level you are unlikely to be prosecuted if you are just discretely listening for your own personal use.
However, the minute you start passing on information about what you've heard or by setting up a live feed, then it's a different matter.
As for a UK reg airline rebroadcasting the content over the IFE.... ain't going to happen. Don't know what the US law is that allows whoever was mentioned earlier to do it.
Unless the transmission/frequency is meant for general reception, which ATC frequencies for the most part are not, the offence is the actual listening to it, not whether you subsequently rebroadcast it or otherwise use any information gained from it.
I agree that listening for discrete/sensible personal use only is unlikely to be prosecuted, but that is still the offence. The reference is
here.