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FCC warns Amateur Radio operators to not commit crimes

hilbert42 6y ago
The message is obvious. It's both reminder and a warning to keep one's nose clean during this heightened political tension. It's easy to be partisan here and one is reminded to be careful to not overstep the mark. The obvious issue is that AR could be used to circumvent or bypass social media bans etc and that forms of obfuscation could be used to do so. In the past, it's not gone unnoticed that AR equipment and bands have been used for nefarious purposes principally by non-licensed interlopers, so the message subtext is for licensed operators to be on the lookout, etc.
- Out_of_Characte 6y ago
  But shouldn't that be irrelivant? Any and every social media ban does not influence wether or not anyone is allowed to make use of AR. Only if a court issues a gag order. This comes down to the FCC telling people not to commit crimes. Which is fine exept it comes off as authoritarian.
  - hilbert42 6y ago
    I was trying to state it delicately. If you use AR/bands to cause or what could be deemed to be insurrection/rebellion/riot then that activity would be unlawful (whether AR was involved or not). As AR is a communications medium, and given its intrinsic nature in that it can bypass the normal/usual means that the State has to shut communications down - at least in the short term - the State has concerns (even if unwarranted - as it's still a potential threat). From the very outset in the early days of radio, there were two reasons for licencing radio transmitters/operators, one was to control interference and the other was fear by governments that information could leave a country's borders without the government's knowledge or its ability to stop it, hence strict licensing. In the early 1900s governments were truly paranoid that foreign agents etc. could use radio for war or insurrection etc. It was a very big deal. (Note the shutdown of AR during WWII for similar reasons.) Governments everywhere still worry about this. Note the rules around mobile phones which have similar issues. The international mobile standards make it compulsory that phones send IMEI and serial numbers to cells for ID etc. to ensure that the communications can be tracked/IDed. Thus I'm not a bit surprised that the FCC issued this warning given the current political unrest.
    - Out_of_Characte 6y ago
      Okay, I did not know there was such large precedent for government control over communications. For someone who has lived mostly in the age of the internet where encryption and anonymity is so abundant that it almost cannot be stopped it seems strange for anyone in power trying to subvert this dynamic. a similar scenario where the FCC mandates facebook posts to be seen by all US citicens seems so out of place and wrong that I deemed there was no excuse for making such a message on AR.
rmason 6y ago
This is a tremendous overreaction on the part of the FCC. Do they really understand the hobby? They should, but seeing as how they turned over much of the monitoring of the ham bands over to volunteers a few years ago, but maybe they do not. My understanding is that most of the planning for the Capitol assault was done on Facebook groups. Some of those who stormed the Capitol were using walkie-talkie software on their phones. If the FCC has proof that hams were using amateur radio for the event then they should tell us.
- mikey_p 6y ago
  The official FCC announcement also includes FRS and GMRS which were almost certainly used in the attack on the Capitol.
- jhayward 6y ago
  Do you mean something like the radios prominently displayed on the tactical gear of the SF larpers shown in many of the vidoes of the insurrection?

The message is obvious. It's both reminder and a warning to keep one's nose clean during this heightened political tension. It's easy to be partisan here and one is reminded to be careful to not overstep the mark. The obvious issue is that AR could be used to circumvent or bypass social media bans etc and that forms of obfuscation could be used to do so. In the past, it's not gone unnoticed that AR equipment and bands have been used for nefarious purposes principally by non-licensed interlopers, so the message subtext is for licensed operators to be on the lookout, etc.

Out_of_Characte 6y ago
But shouldn't that be irrelivant? Any and every social media ban does not influence wether or not anyone is allowed to make use of AR. Only if a court issues a gag order. This comes down to the FCC telling people not to commit crimes. Which is fine exept it comes off as authoritarian.
- hilbert42 6y ago
  I was trying to state it delicately. If you use AR/bands to cause or what could be deemed to be insurrection/rebellion/riot then that activity would be unlawful (whether AR was involved or not). As AR is a communications medium, and given its intrinsic nature in that it can bypass the normal/usual means that the State has to shut communications down - at least in the short term - the State has concerns (even if unwarranted - as it's still a potential threat). From the very outset in the early days of radio, there were two reasons for licencing radio transmitters/operators, one was to control interference and the other was fear by governments that information could leave a country's borders without the government's knowledge or its ability to stop it, hence strict licensing. In the early 1900s governments were truly paranoid that foreign agents etc. could use radio for war or insurrection etc. It was a very big deal. (Note the shutdown of AR during WWII for similar reasons.) Governments everywhere still worry about this. Note the rules around mobile phones which have similar issues. The international mobile standards make it compulsory that phones send IMEI and serial numbers to cells for ID etc. to ensure that the communications can be tracked/IDed. Thus I'm not a bit surprised that the FCC issued this warning given the current political unrest.
  - Out_of_Characte 6y ago
    Okay, I did not know there was such large precedent for government control over communications. For someone who has lived mostly in the age of the internet where encryption and anonymity is so abundant that it almost cannot be stopped it seems strange for anyone in power trying to subvert this dynamic. a similar scenario where the FCC mandates facebook posts to be seen by all US citicens seems so out of place and wrong that I deemed there was no excuse for making such a message on AR.

rmason 6y ago

This is a tremendous overreaction on the part of the FCC. Do they really understand the hobby? They should, but seeing as how they turned over much of the monitoring of the ham bands over to volunteers a few years ago, but maybe they do not. My understanding is that most of the planning for the Capitol assault was done on Facebook groups. Some of those who stormed the Capitol were using walkie-talkie software on their phones. If the FCC has proof that hams were using amateur radio for the event then they should tell us.

mikey_p 6y ago
The official FCC announcement also includes FRS and GMRS which were almost certainly used in the attack on the Capitol.
jhayward 6y ago
Do you mean something like the radios prominently displayed on the tactical gear of the SF larpers shown in many of the vidoes of the insurrection?