Eavesdropping on Cordless Phone Conversations?

Question

Anyone with a police scanner knows it is possible and very easy to listen in on cordless phone conversations. I live in NY. I assume this is legal.

I know listening to CELL phone calls is not legal. Here is my dilemma:

I am hearing my neighboring tenant engaging in drug activity over his cordless. I am not kidding! I would like to report him, as I hate his guts. I could tape what I am hearing, but I wouldn't obviously present it to the authorities if listening to such calls is illegal, even though I am providing the police with rock solid proof of illegal drug activity. So I am caught between a rock and a hard place. The key is finding out if listening to/recording of cordless phone calls over a scanner is legal in New York. If so, then I may proceed. Please do not answer unless you are certain of your response, as this is a very serious issue. Provide website info. to back up your answer, if possible. Thank you.

Answer 1

Having been involved in a similar case some years ago as a warranty service center for Cobra cordless phones, this is a fuzzy area at best.

That case had to do with one tenant in a double picking up the other tenants cordless calls on her clock radio. She called me, I called the police, they went to her house and monitored a couple of calls, went next door and busted them. When I was also a warranty center for scanner service and cell phones first came out, the scanners came with a sheet that had a warning listing the frequencies you weren't allowed to tune to. That didn't work so the OEMs had to block those frequencies from being received. This only applies to cell phones. As a Ham op, I can "tune" anything that is radiated any way I wish, but there are regulations regarding the dissemination of such information. If I receive information that as a citizen I feel should be brought to the attention of the authorities, I may well have a legal as well as a moral responsibility to do so. However, in today's progressive liberal era, criminals seem to be able to sue their victims, so go figure. Call your attorney or legal aid first.

Answer 2

I'm answering this ONLY from a perspective of listening in on phone lines, there is debate as to if someone using a cordless on an open frequency with no encryption or anything falls under this, there are specific laws at the federal and most states, but they are highly contested, and often not enforced.  As a general rule, it is legal to listen to any unencrypted signal, cell phones get an exception because in the early days there was no alternative (you couldn't just plug in the cell phone and eliminate the wireless, where you have a choice to use a corded or cordless phone).

Now for the "phone line" part of the law:

Most states are what are called "1 party states", some are "2 party states", I "think" NY is a 1 party state but not sure without looking it up.  All states fall into one of these catagories.

What that means is that at least 1 party needs to be notified that the call is being monitored/recorded (and in a 2 party state, both parties).

Why someone would do a deal like that over an open cordless phone is beyond me, but either way, it probably won't be admissible in court.

However, it "may" be enough to get the police started on an investigation.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure 18 USC § 2510 forbids you from listening on any conversations that are deemed reasonably private, whether wired or wireless.

Even oral communication is protected to some degree.

Police bands are reasonably known as public.

Cordless phones are reasonably known as private.