The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a bill that makes it illegal to eavesdrop on private digital, cellular, or PCS communications.
The final count was 403-3 in favor of the Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act. HR514, introduced by Representative Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico), also prohibits the manufacturing and use of scanners specifically for the interception of private wireless calls.
The bill gives the FCC the authority to regulate scanner receivers and to impose penalties for violations.
"Sixty-three million Americans use cellular phones, and keeping their conversations private is of great concern to them," said Luke Rose, a legislative aide to Wilson.
Rose said that the support was no surprise, and he predicted that the same thing would happen in the Senate. No date has been set for that vote.
Rose said Wilson decided to draft the legislation after her kitchen baby monitor intercepted a cellular phone conversation.
While the issue of cellular phone privacy may not be controversial, the government's solution for it is, at least for some privacy experts.
"I'm all for privacy on cellular phones, but Congress is going about this all wrong," said Shari Steele, director of legal services with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The way to protect privacy is not to make certain technologies illegal. Instead, the way should be to make encryption legal.
"The idea shouldn't be to go after the manufacturers of such technology. Technology is not the problem. Technology is neutral," Steele said. "The only reason we are not able to use strong encryption is because of the export control laws that restrict strong encryption, which is Congress' fault in the first place."
