Pirate Radio Stations Challenge Feds

Thundgelmir writes "Yahoo news has an article about how pirate radio is taking on the FCC. It describes the growing trend of low-power FM stations, and their crusade to be heard across the country and around the internet." From the article: "Over four days, a dozen men and women shyly bumped shoulders as they studied schematics and tinkered with romex connectors, resistors, microphone cords, meters, sockets and capacitors — the stuff of illegal radio stations. 'We're not stealing anything. We're claiming something that's rightfully ours,' he says. His goal is to create FM radio stations faster than the FCC can shut them down ... 'It's always been our position that if enough people go on the air with their stations, the FCC will be overwhelmed and unable to respond.'"

Comments

It's called "Harmful Interference" and is rude. .

[ishpeck]

I want to sit down in an interview with Stephen Dunifer and every time he goes to answer one of my questions, interrupt him by screaming, or singing as loudly as I can. In fact, whenever he speaks, somebody needs to start shouting, or blowing whistles --- disrupt his communications and see how he likes it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to transmit in the commercial broadcasting bands --- if you wanna do that, you should be able to. But interfering with those who are using those bands is just plain rude. It's like interrupting people in a conversation. It really undermines the entire purpose behind radio transmissions -- which is to COMMUNICATE!

If you log into an IRC channel and flood the screen with random text you copy and paste from around your hard drive, you're going to get booted ASAP because it disrupts communications and disrupts the entire purpose of the chat server.

Maybe the FCC needs t'make it easier to get a license to broadcast -- I'm all for that. But thinking you're some kind of courageous freedom-fighter when you're really just a gigantic jerk-face with a penchant for harmful interference doesn't do much to earn my sympathy for your cause.

And it's not like the FCC is the effing red-coats out to over-tax your tea. Of all the federal institutions, they're among the least imposing -- THEY ARE THERE TO HELP MAINTAIN COMMUNICATIONAL INTEGRITY. For all their faults, they still try to do their job and they try not to be annoying dorks about it. Of all government agencies to fight, the FCC really should be on the very bottom of your list.

Yes, I believe everyone should be on the air: Radio communications is a very useful tool that has helped civilization quite a lot. Anyone who wishes to be a part of that should definitely participate. Nobody has the right to participate at the expense of another's communicative abilities, though. That's not the kind of radio anyone should want to be a part of.

So if the FCC doesn't bust into their houses and take their transmitters away, SOMEBODY should. Like their mommies and daddies or something.