As I understand it, from a legality standpoint it is okay to monitor any of the radio services except cellular phone, provided you do not derive any monetary gain or pass on any information you may have heard. Unfortunately, the morality issue is not as clearly defined, and is probably best left to each individual. I personally see nothing wrong with listening in to what people say when it carries into my personal space. Some claim it is no different than tapping someone s phone. Another call revealed a man talking to one girlfriend, placing her on hold to give another girlfriend directions to his house, all the while denying his messin around to both women.
Drug deals are commonly overheard, as are people checking their voice mail.
Baby monitors have yielded some interesting activities, including parents spanking their children, and led to practical jokes, since they share frequencies with voice-activated headsets used to talk between motorcycles. The mother went nuts thinking her child had spoken, and we listened to her try to get the child to speak again as we rode out of range. Cordless phones have to be the most interesting thing to listen to, because their short range limits reception to a block or less, meaning the people you hear are more than likely neighbors you know. Apartments are even more interesting because there are more people within listening range, and on one occasion yielded a rather interesting set of events. Later she made calls to several men, all of which claimed to have previous commitments.