Spotters and their radios
Every time someone mentions on Pprune that they heard something interesting on their airband radio/scanner/magic conch shell, there's a set litany of responses as unvarying and time-honoured as you'd ever get at Evensong.
Spotter: And it came to pass that BA445 saith in mine electronically-enhanced earshot, even unto the tower: verily, I am having a spot of bother.
Ppruners: Lo, knowest thou not that this is evil in the sight of the Law, and that thou art a naughty person? The Angel of the Law that is called Ofcom shall smite thee if thou lookest not out, and a good thing too.
(On days ending in a y, there then follows the Collection of hoary old nonsense about 'not if you don't pass it on'. The service finishes with a reading from the Book of Acts (Wireless Telegraphy), and the congregation departs grumpily until the next time)
The latest outbreak of this has been in R&N with the Thompson heron strike report. And yes, if course it is illegal. Even having a radio capable of working on airband frequencies is illegal - something I'm guilty of on multiple counts, being a radio ham with enough bits of weird kit to set up MI5 2.0.
I don't think it should be. In countries where listening to stuff is by and large legal, I'm unaware that it's caused big problems that could have been solved by law; the law patently doesn't work in any case; nobody seems at all bothered (pace the Pprune Naughty Police) and in many cases (airshows, etc) the authorities actively collude with the punters by publishing frequencies for that very purpose.
Ofcom is currently consulting on various aspects of radio licensing, but nothing that covers this. It would be a good idea to ask it if it would consider reforming the (really very outdated) principle that if the Minister of State for the Home Office doesn't give their explicit permission, it's not allowed. There are so many other laws covering areas where such listening could cause harm - and so many services are now safely digital - that a bit of sanity would be most welcome.
Are there enough people to get some steam up and go ask? Ofcom loves the consultation: be nice to give it something it hadn't already set up.
Here endeth the whinge.
R