[BC] A Pirates double whammy.

[Alan Kline]

------ At 12:59 PM 8/12/2006 EDT, The Most Honourable N0JAA at aol.com wrote: -------

>I really think this is an irrelevant statement.  The FCC alone decides  who 
>and what stations need to be licensed and who or what stations do not  require 
>licenses.  The way I see it, the Florida law is moot as it is  overridden by 
>FCC regulations.

I'm sorry, Paul, but I disagree.  The Florida statute does not authorize any
operation that is not in full compliance with FCC regs and the Communications
Act.  They're not telling someone, "OK, you can transmit in Florida without
an FCC license."

What they're doing, at least in part, is closing off a defense that some pirates
have tried--that is, their claim that since their transmissions are completely
within one state, it is not interstate commerce and the states have authority,
not the FCC.  I recall one recent case where a pirate claimed to be licensed by
the "Idaho Department of Commerce". Stephen Dunifer, IIRC, was a big proponent
of that excuse. (And never mind the fact that the federal courts
long ago shot down the excuse--every new generation of pirates tries it, and 
just ends up wasting their time and our taxes...)

So, even if by some bizarre circumstance a court does give the state some authority,
the state law is saying that one must obtain FCC authorization before transmitting
(either a license, or one of the license-free services--cellular, CB, Part 15,
whatever). The pirate can no longer make the state law excuse, because the state
law says "Go talk to the FCC."  

I'm not a Constitutional-law expert, but I see no conflict here.  I also see no
problem with a law that would make it illegal to do business with a pirate station.
It's hardly a new thing that states have laws regarding "aiding and abetting" 
criminal activity, and I don't recall anything that would prohibit a state law
barring the "aiding and abetting" a violation of a Federal statute. 

And didn't the FCC explicitly delegate some authority to the states when it
comes to CB enforcement?

ak