With the recent raids at Steve Jackson Games and Jolnet perhaps these fears are reasonable. However, if you are committing no wrongdoings you still, despite the KGB and Gestapo like actions of the Secret Service have the right to exercise your freedom of information access via electronic media. There are only three laws relating to the use of modems and BBS systems. The first two are toll fraud and computer trespass. Toll Fraud is the avoidance of paying telephone company service charges.
Computer trespass is the unauthorized access of a computer system.
When you call a public BBS, or a private one you are a member of and pay for the call you are not committing either of these crimes. While they may not like the fact that you have a computer and modem, they can't touch you. The other law is not particularly computer related and goes under many different statues, but in all cases deals with encouraging people to commit illegal acts. Well any information which has no educational or informational purpose that encourages people to commit a crime. Hacking and phreaking information has an educational purpose in that it teaches people computer security, and shows dangerous flaws in systems that could be used by someone for nefarious purposes.