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[dvd-discuss] Electronic Rights



I recently has an opportunity to watch a video of Lawrence Tribes'  1991 speech entitled "The Constitution in Cyberspace".  As an aside, for those who haven't seen the video or read the transcripts, it is an very interesting speech that is still very relevant today.  A link to one site is:
http://www.cpsr.org/ftp/cpsr/conferences/cfp91/papers/tribe

Anyway, on to my reason for the email.  In the speech he stated:
'And in *Red Lion v. FCC*, decided twenty-two years ago but still not repudiated today, the Court ratified government control of TV and radio broadcast content with the dubious logic that the scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum justified not merely government policies to auction off, randomly allocate, or otherwise ration the spectrum according to neutral rules, but also much more intrusive and content-based government regulation in the form of the so-called "fairness doctrine." '.
This statement got me thinking about the gradual erosion of rights that we have experienced relating to the use of various electronic devices, computers, and  TV and radio reception and recording rights. I would like to put together a timeline of the laws and court cases which have contributed to it but I have a problem.  I don't know how to find the information that I need.  Some such as the DMCA and No Electronic Theft are easy.  Others are much more difficult. For example, I have heard and read numerous times that because some politician's cell phone call was intercepted and got him in trouble, Congress decided to prevent that from happening again.  They therefore passed a law making it illegal to have a cell scanner and listen to calls.  If true, how do I find the relevant law or precedent?  I have tried search the Congressional Records site, but haven't been able to frame a search in such a manner as to return what I am looking for. A couple of other items that I can think of:  decryption of satellite TV signals (through ownership of hacked cards?), radar/laser detectors (in certain states) and emergency/police radio scanners.   I would like to include the few positive ones as well - such as the Sony Betamax case.
The problem is the glut of information available through search engines. I have found a virtually unlimited amount of data decrying some of the items listed above, but haven't been able to sort through the chaff to find hard information.  Any suggestions anyone could make would be most appreciated.  Once I get a draft, I will post it.