Well, I was thinking that they are afraid of the use of AIS data from
the pirates; note that any Internet user could get the info about the
ship. But the pirates could have an cheap AIS receiver in his boat, so
it would have the same info, but only locally (say, within 30 nm).
Unless the bandidos are spraid over the world and the Big Boss want
coordinate the assaults centraly....

Regarding the legality of boadcasting this info, I do not know how it
could be prohibited or controled by the any govern.

Pascal