Originally Posted by
TemboOne
Many of us take photography in relation to our travels as a right. The more enthusiastic carry and use airband radios to listen to ATC while taking photos.
I think there is quite a difference between photography and the unlawful interception of radio signals. If it is your hobby I hope you enjoy yourself but you are going to get some questions. It's certainly not an activity that many onlookers would understand—
why is that man hovering around the airport with a giant aerial and a walkie talkie?
Originally Posted by
TemboOne
In Britain even listening to the airband or marine band is illegal without a licence, yet the observation decks at LHR has loads of plane spotters openly using scanners almost every day.
What makes you think they don't have a licence?
Originally Posted by
TemboOne
We need to always use common sense when we travel and never assume our "rights" are the same everywhere! Some countries - and people - can be excessively paranoid about security.
There is a big difference between an activity that is widely sanctioned in almost all public places and only unofficially and occasionally prohibited without lawful authority in airports, and an activity that is specifically prohibited by statute (but perhaps not always enforced) and is thus most certainly not a "right" in both the jurisdictions you mention.
You may as well complain that you were caught smoking pot outside a police station because it is widely tolerated in other circumstances.