Radio scanners not needed...does the law know that?

by Hammer51012 Creative Commons license

On my way home from the Fair tonight, I was walking down the street and was passed by one of the fire trucks, on their way to a fire or something. It used to be times like this, that I would wish for my scanner. However, I pulled out my phone, and began to listen to the app on my phone that streams a scanner for the local area, including the digital 800MHz. So, that go me wondering. Michigan is one of those states, that has a "scanner" law. That is you can't have a scanner actively monitoring in your car, unless you are a licensed Amateur Radio Operator. In this case, I am and I was walking, but I thought, so if I'm listening in my car, and I don't have a license, am I breaking a law? Technically, my phone isn't a scanner, and neither is the app. It is streaming from somewhere else. I don't think we need a new law, we should probably chuck the old one, because, does it really matter?