All LiveATC feeds in France are currently offline.
According to someone who appears to be a LiveATC admin on their forum, as of October 14, 2022: “We are involved in a dispute with the aviation authority in France. All feeds are offline until that dispute is resolved. We have sent a response to the authority and they seem to be refusing to respond. The basis for their claim is also questionable and doesn’t seem to have solid legal footing at all.” (from https://forums.liveatc.net/listener-forum/no-more-feeds-in-france/).
There was an interpretation of the wording of the UK law posted here (can’t find it right now) which basically meant that you could not be busted for publishing an exchange between ATC and you.
The law rarely “makes sense” but this would make sense because the intention was clearly that you were to receive the transmission. One can’t argue that for 3rd party comms.
Usually before I fly to a busy airport that is new to me, I watch the local traffic on Foreflight and simultaneously listen to the associated ATC communications on Live ATC. This gives you a really good picture of how the traffic flow works at that airport and where it isn’t blocked it can be done on your phone. It’s really helpful.
The requirements for privacy are contained in the ITU General Radio regulations Article 18
18.4 § 2 The holder of a licence is required to preserve the secrecy of
telecommunications, as provided in the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Convention.
Moreover, the licence shall mention, specifically or by reference, that if the station includes a
receiver, the interception of radiocommunication correspondence, other than that which the station
is authorized to receive, is forbidden, and that in cases where such correspondence is involuntarily
received, it shall not be reproduced, nor communicated to third parties, nor used for any purpose,
and even its existence shall not be disclosed.
In the case of FRTOL holders it is covered in Article 37:
37.11 § 4 Each administration shall take the necessary steps to place operators under the
obligation to preserve the secrecy of correspondence as provided for in No. 18.4.
In the UK this is made law by the Witrelress Telegraphy Act 2006. In other States there will be appropriate telecommunications legislation.
does anyone know if recording ATC is illegal in France?
AFAIK no, you are allowed to listen, record and broadcast non en-encrypted communication unless such recordings would harm someone’s life (private or professional)
This is pure privacy stuff, just like taking videos of your friend naked & drunk and posting them on his LinkedIn next day 
I heard few pilots & controllers claiming LiveATC is illegal in France? I have yet to come across anyone who knows what he is talking about with an actual legal reference, also my understanding, EU laws puts burden on emitters to use encryption to protect their exchanges on radio, otherwise it falls naturally under public domain but I have not checked national variants of Aviation & Radio laws…
LiveATC is prohibited in UK according to Ofcom guidance (and apparently Guidance = Law in pilot forums, this is very debatable in courts )
alioth wrote:
IIRC in the UK it is still the case that you need a license to receive anything in the RF spectrum
Anyone with metal rods of various lengths at home is breaking the law.
Radiocommunication correspondence secrecy is required by international law.
ITU Radio Regulations 2016 (link):
ARTICLE 36
Authority of the person responsible for the station
36.1 § 1 The service of a mobile station is placed under the supreme authority of the person
responsible for the aircraft or other vehicle carrying the mobile station.36.2 § 2 The person holding this authority shall require that each operator comply with
these Regulations and that the mobile station for which the operator is responsible is used, at all times,
in accordance with these Regulations.36.3 § 3 Except as otherwise provided for in these Regulations, the person responsible, as
well as all the persons who may have knowledge of any information whatever obtained by means of
the radiocommunication service, are placed under the obligation of observing and ensuring the
secrecy of correspondence.36.4 § 4 The provisions of Nos. 36.1, 36.2 and 36.3 shall also apply to personnel of aircraft
earth stations.
