The "Pirate Act" is certainly a government-sanctioned crime committed against landlords!
It is an admission by the F.C.C. and the government that they are completely unable to control the airwaves,
(and it is quite right that they should be unable to completely control the airwaves-- because they govern the airwaves by the rule of MONEY, rather than the First Amendment!)
Since the FCC is unable to do it, and the government will not grant them the funds needed to hire enough "radio policeman" to do it,
through this law they are attempting to "draft" every landlord in the country to serve as additional "radio policemen"
to enforce laws which they have proven unable to enforce, without pay, and threatening to impoverish them with fines if they don't do it... a role for which almost all landlords are completely unqualified to perform, even if they had the time...
Speaking as a radio pirate, I have never "informed" any of my landlords about what I was doing on their property...but through this law they could be held liable for it (if it was on the AM or FM bands)...
It would seem that such landlords' only recourse, once informed of the violations, would be to attempt to evict the pirate, which can take many months in some states.... meanwhile the pirate could continue to broadcast from their property. Will this be considered as "allowing the violations to continue", or not? The law seems vague.
Neither small nor large landlords are qualified to perform such radio policing, other than attempting to evict the pirates in court. I suppose that is the point? Merely using the landlords to make continuous operations more difficult for the radio pirates by forcing landlords to evict those accused as pirate radio operators ?
Any radio pirate worth their salt would be able to operate independently of any fixed location.
If I were an FM pirate in such states, I would be mobile-able, and one of my favorite transmitting locations would be
the top floor of a parking ramp building--- from my car
but operations from inside the top of tall buildings might also be possible, operating at lower power levels via batteries and minimal antennas.
(luckily at FM the antennas are very small).
In any case, the "Pirate" Act is an admission of total defeat by the FCC,
and an attack upon small landlords, for whom I have sympathy.
FM pirates who have any brains are not going to be driven from the airwaves by these laws. They might have to operate at lower power levels than they would from a fixed location--- and not operate 24-7, but they can stay on the air if they are clever and educated in radio.
I take it for granted that almost all such northeast FM radio pirates are not operating continuously from property that they themselves own... and there are so many FM transmitters being sold here in the US, good and bad, that the FCC is in a completely hopeless battle... That is why landlords have been threatened with this law which would put many of the small landlords completely out of business, if monetary forfeitures were enforced against them...
I do thank the almighty that the law does not apply to shortwave pirates... That seems a blaring sign that the FCC does not give a shit about us--- other than to bust one of us every couple years.... but of course shortwave radio is becoming a 'backwater' and the commercial broadcasters don't even know what "shortwave radio" is, anymore...
Hello Chris, and all my old friends.... Salud!
John Poet is still alive out here somewhere...
Topic: FCC To Pirate Landowners: Enforcement Is Coming (Read 1040 times)
