Recording of ATC transmissions is ILLEGAL!

[701driver]

been re-reading this thread, no one seems to have mentioned the recording of radio transmissions by councils and airports and others around the country for billing landing fees, surely these recordings are not being used for the intended purpose. and in replaying them they are breaking the law yet again. food for thought?

[701driver]

as an aside, in the late 90's i flew from an airport whose owners, a local council decided to record all radio transmissions for billing landing fees. not surprisingly radio traffic ceased almost overnight (what a boon to safety)

[slackie]

701... you are so correct, and I'd love to see someone test that in court!

[madaero]

this being the case (inside knowledge),how is it that this is being carried out very regularly without consequence to any of the airports involved!!

[slackie]

Probably because no-one has challenged it yet. Not many people are aware of the Radiocommunications Act, even fewer actually give a sh!t about it!!

[dakdriver]

The airfield operators and anyone else who collect these radio transmissions are illegal. It seems no one wants to know or care.
I believe a complaint has been made, to the correct authorities but no result, so at this stage I wouldn’t get too concerned about it.
It seems to be one of those laws we have but is ignored by all (Bit like the anti smacking law)

[martytheduck]

What a bunch of dribble, same goes for police and they are not so precious to prosecute, I say Get

[slackie]

Actually, it's not the Police that enforce this regulation, it's the Ministry of Economic Development, and they have acted on behalf of the Police... you might want to get your facts straight Marty before you start slinging dirt.

[martytheduck]

Facts are 1 it is stupid dribble, 2 the Ministry act on complaints and not on their own initiative (which is lacking), 3 they can still get

[dakdriver]

For those of you worried about your local aerodrome collecting the landing fees from your radio transmissions.

From the Radio Spectrum Management Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment


While you advise that the broadcasts are intended only for other aircraft, consideration of the safety issues involved and consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority indicate that the information about a pilot’s intentions is relevant to all parties in the aerodrome area, including other pilots, the aerodrome operators and any other parties who may be affected by the aircraft movements. Accordingly, the Ministry considers that aerodrome operators are among the entitled recipients of these broadcasts and are not committing an offence by using, reproducing or disclosing those radiocommunications

This reply only causes more aircraft to go NORDO and thereby cause a greater danger to other aircraft.
This seems to me to be a rather intelligent response to a serious question which has not been thought through by the bureaucrats

Those of you using these transmissions for any other reasons other than the above are open for prosecution

[701driver]

surely if one is to follow this train of thought then every aviator who is a party to the communication (as an entitled recipient) is not commiting an offence by useing, reproducing or disclosing these radio communications ( more food for thought )

[bazzaboeing]

I presume TV 3 will be getting a visit from the Police for broadcasting the ATC voices in their story last night on Campbell live as I clearly heard Air Traffic Control on my telly. I really cannot see what the problem is in broadcasting this as anyone with a scanner can listen at anytime and you can hear ATC from all over the world by just listening to Live ATC or looking at a lot of You tube videos where it is also rebroadcast. New Zealand must be the only country that seems to have this draconian law. Does anyone know what the fine is for rebroadcasting or whether anyone has ever been fined in NZ?

[slackie]

I didn't see it. TV3 appear to have a short memory. They were fined over transmitting RT communications when the RNZAF 757 had a nose wheel hangup not long after going into service after making an appearance at the Walsh Flying School in Matamata... it transitted back to Whenuapai to be greeted by hordes of TV cameras with onlookers expecting the worst. Having said that I can't see it on their OnDemand website so maybe they have had their memory "refreshed"??

[Dave Homewood]

To be fair to Campbell Live most of their camera crew members, editors and producers would not have any idea about this obscure law - and nor would most TV makers - most of us here didn't know about it till this thread came up. I'm sure it's something simply never thought of or discussed till their legal department hears about it after the fact.

[ngatimozart]

Since it is part of the item you'd think it would be ok. I can't see why there is a problem myself. It iwould be a very definite problem if some idiot was recording it and then rebroadcsting it on the same or similar frequencies, but as part of a tv program. Bureaucrats.

[mjrhealth]

New world order here we come........

I wonder what the radcom would do with apple, or youtube, or facebook, or microsoft, who record you private information and than use it for unacceptable usage, like shoving unwanted adds in you face or even telstra who give you information to third parties illeagly.

Gets interestng and scary. now that we record one anther and teh government can demand the footage if they deem it necessary. Shouldnt forget your service provider

[avrica]

Apr 19, 2013 10:03:48 GMT 12 bazzaboeing said:

I presume TV 3 will be getting a visit from the Police for broadcasting the ATC voices in their story last night on Campbell live as I clearly heard Air Traffic Control on my telly. I really cannot see what the problem is in broadcasting this as anyone with a scanner can listen at anytime and you can hear ATC from all over the world by just listening to Live ATC or looking at a lot of You tube videos where it is also rebroadcast. New Zealand must be the only country that seems to have this draconian law. Does anyone know what the fine is for rebroadcasting or whether anyone has ever been fined in NZ?

[avrica]

.....wow, I'm just glad when I was a sprog P/UT back in the early 60's the UK CAA and RAF didn't view ATC radio chat as some kind of "Holy Grail" only to be shared with the privileged few - just about everyone in my flying network while training, listened to, recorded (yes on very old spool machines) shared and even played over VHF radio's in public, any RT procedures that would help us get to the lofty position of being let loose on flying machines - my how the world has gone into full reverse thrust on some aviation issues .... or maybe these days I should say:-  "Two way airborne to ground vocal telemetry equipment IPR criteria" ..... where's the aerospace version of ODD-BALL when you need him?

[TSR2]

This story has to be a breach of the Radio Communications Act.

www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/76686296/air-new-zealand-provides-passenger-with-a-midflight-cricket-score-update

[baronbeeza]

I would imagine the cricket update came through the telemetry system as opposed to a broadcast message. There would masses of info going through the data link while the aircraft was in-flight, you may even find updates were included in the transmissions to all aircraft in the fleet. The newspaper seemed to think differently but I am used to having an opposing opinion, or view, to the reporter anyway.