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Despite FCC's Promise To Take Aggressive Action To Stamp Out Radio Pirates, Illegal Stations Are Flourishing (newyorker.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Last year, when Donald Trump appointed Ajit Pai chairman of the F.C.C., Pai promised to "take aggressive action" to stamp out pirates. In early May, the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement, or PIRATE, Act was introduced in Congress; it would increase fines from a maximum of a hundred and forty-four thousand dollars to two million dollars. But the stations aren't going away, The New Yorker reports. From the article: Transmission equipment has only become cheaper and more sophisticated. "The problem, as I see it, is that the technology has gone beyond what the law has been able to do," said David Goren, a local resident who works as a producer on licensed radio shows. Between 87.9 and 92.1 FM, Goren counted eleven illegal stations, whose hosts mainly spoke Creole or accented English. Pirates, he said, "offer a kind of programming that their audiences depend on. Spiritual sustenance, news, immigration information, music created at home or in the new home, here."

2 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong target by arth1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it would increase fines from a maximum of a hundred and forty-four thousand dollars to two million dollars.

    That will do absolutely nothing to deter the pirate radio stations, which seldom are for-profit entities, but special interest and religious kooks.
    They can't afford $144,000 either, so it doesn't matter whether you raise this. As long as people think they won't get caught, it doesn't matter how harsh the penalty is.
    Too high fines even work against the intention, in that you might report your neighbor for running an illegal radio station if he was facing a $1,000 fine, but won't do so if he risks $144,000 or $2,000,000. Ruining a person's life is not something all of us are willing to do, even if they were the ones who broke the law.

    (This is also why excessive prison terms for certain crimes make things worse, not better.)

  2. Mostly Harmless by Zorro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most are low power and doing nothing much except be hobbyist projects.

    Is that really worth a $2,000,000 Fine?

    Just create a special low power license and limit it to noncommercial use.