FCC can search homes without a warrant, agency says
Published: May 21, 2009
Updated 6 months ago
Unlicensed advocates disagree
Have a Wi-Fi router? If you do — and it uses an unlicensed frequency — you could be subject to a warrantless search of your home.
Federal Communications Commission guidelines stipulate that the agency can enter property when it suspects radio frequency energy is being abused. The provision, which was originally intended to aid the monitoring of unlicensed radio and tv stations, now has a broader range of application as more consumers join the wi-fi ranks.
“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” FCC spokesman David Fiske told Wired for an article Thursday. The FCC spokesman said the scope included Wi-Fi routers.
“The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts,” Wired’s Ryan Singer wrote. “That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB-radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge.”
The Electronic Frontier foundation, an online privacy group, called the FCC’s interpretation a “major stretch.”
“It is a major stretch beyond case law to assert that authority with respect to a private home, which is at the heart of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure,” Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Lee Tien was quoted as saying. “When it is a private home and when you are talking about an over-powered Wi-Fi antenna — the idea they could just go in is honestly quite bizarre.”
“The rules came to attention this month when an FCC agent investigating a pirate radio station in Boulder, Colorado, left a copy of a 2005 FCC inspection policy on the door of a residence hosting the unlicensed 100-watt transmitter,” Singer writes.
“Whether you operate an amateur station or any other radio device, your authorization from the Commission comes with the obligation to allow inspection,” the statement said.
Boulder Free Radio simply moved the transmitter to a new location. They say they’ll continue to do so in the future.
KBFR Boulder Free Radio offers a glimpse into the troubles encountered by pirate radio stations. It aired from 2000 to 2005 using an unlicensed broadband radio frequency. During that time, the station’s founders mounted a transmitter in a tree while connecting it to the station in a van and parked it in various locations in an effort to frustrate FCC inspectors.
Ultimately, the station shut down. It was reincarnated, however, in 2006 and again in 2008.
Not everyone agrees with the FCC’s interpretation of the 1934 law. Rogue Radio Research, a company that promotes unlicensed broadcasters, says on its website that agents of the FCC don’t have the right to search homes.
“If FCC agents knock on my door and say they want to talk with me, do I have to answer their questions?” the site asks rhetorically on its “Pamphlets and Practical Guides” page.
“No,” they say. “You have a right to say that you want a lawyer present when and if you speak with them, and that if they will give you their names, you will be back in touch with them. Unless you have been licensed to broadcast, the FCC has no right to ‘inspect’ your home.
“If they say they have a right to enter my house without a warrant to see if I have broadcasting equipment, do I have to let them in?” they continue.
“No,” the site replies. “Under Section 303(n) of Title 47 U.S.C., the FCC has a right to inspect any transmitting devices that must be licensed under the Act. Nonetheless, they must have permission to enter your home, or some other basis for entering beyond their mere supervisorial powers. With proper notice, they do have a right to inspect your communications devices. If they have given you notice of a pending investigation, contact a lawyer immediately.”
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“Federal Communications Commission guidelines stipulate that the agency can enter property when it suspects radio frequency energy is being abused.”
No Act enacted by Congress or any Government Agency can supersede the Constitution, period. The FCC may NOT “enter private property” withOUT a search warrant, issued by a court, period.
Yet, the American Public just don’t understand the rule of law, or the place of the Constitution in their lives.
If the Government wants to CLARIFY something in the Constitution, or ADD to it based on “modern times” and circumstances that the Founding Fathers could not have known would come to pass (computers, cars, etc etc), then they make an Amendment and it gets ratified by the States. Otherwise, they are INTENTIONALLY LIMITED by the Constitution.. ON PURPOSE.
It’s not that people don’t understand, it’s that every time they try to do something about it they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get to the Supreme Court only to be told “sorry, you have no rights”.
Until the voters take the hint that there is no political party that looks out for the living breathing People this system will continue to crush them, their rights, their dreams and their America!
Oh, the FCC guys can enter without a warrant . . . but they may be subject to penalty, fines or jail if they do. And if God forbid they get their head blowed off by an overzealous homeowner . . . the homeowner is going to have a pretty good defense.
Try entering my home without either my permission or a valid warrant, FCC agents. I will show you what the defense of my home means to me, and you can come over and clean up your own blood later. I still do have the right to defend my own property, and I will avail myself of that right.
Sorry, Nazi scum, but your “regulations” don’t mean that the constitution is meaningless, regardless of what your previous overlord told you.
No goddamned warrant, NO goddamned entry. PERIOD. Because you sure as hell aren’t getting permission from me. I have NO reason to allow feds in my home, nor does any other American citizen.
It would be very dangerous for an FCC agent to trespass on my property.
What is David Fiske’s email address?
How about changing this thing so it actually upholds the US Constitution.
Or am I just so stupid I am missing the point completely?
I know everyone want’s to talk about shotguns and other nonsense lately, It only makes you a target for government corruption and overzealous, over-reactive new and existing laws. If you want to defend your home, great, shut the fuck up about it.
If you want to fix this mess we are in, we need to outlaw electronic voting machines. Then vote these treasonous scum out.
The solution to our problems consists of first removing “personhood” from companies so the right-wing stops abusing the intent of the Constitution for profit..
secondly, we need to abolish money and move toward a Resource Based Economy where we leverage our Technology and Resources to the betterment of man, not just a few men.
I agree!
There are things that “Corporate people” can do that living breathing People cannot. Such as; Own other people, live forever, die and be reborn & kill other people. Plus, you cannot imprison a Corporate person when they break the law.
It all started with a small tax dispute case, Santa Clara County V Southern Pacific Railroad. and a little bit of court shenanigan by a court clerk named Bancroft Davis
Who had his own agenda, because he had served as president to the board of directors for The Newburg & New York Railroad Co. What in blazes he was doing there as a court clerk to begin with is unknown.
Anyway, in the preamble to the case, Chief Justice Morrison Waite said “We can all agree that equal protection under the law applies to these corporations as well.” After the case was decided, the foot notes were put together by none other than a railroad man who took it upon himself to include the equal protection under the law quote from the preamble as part of the summary judgment handed down. Its all the more amazing considering that the case wasn’t about equal protection at all. In fact the court skirted the issue altogether.
With that small act Mr. Davis, opened a gargantuan can of worms that spawns the corruption of government officials and all forms of sordid affairs too numerous to mention.
The immutable facts are …corporations exist and do business by the good will of the state. A corporation cannot exist without the consent and authority of the state. They can’t hold elective office, they can’t be sworn as citizens, nor can they be arrested. And most importantly they don’t enjoy the right to vote.
If they can’t be sworn in, hold office, be arrested and can’t vote, tell us how did they get the right to petition the government to redress a grievance?”
PS: thank you RAW for removing this feedback loop from ABC!
Savanster is wrong wrong wrong. Did you know that Wildlife agents such as the GAME WARDEN can pop the trunk and search any vehicle he sees fit without a warrant at any time or place??
look it up…
and this was before the Great Bush Constitution Heist of 2001
Is it that they can or that they are able to detain you until they get a warrant. And since they can easily claim reasonable cause they can easily get a warrant so why bother rejecting their request…
Bingo, basically there is “game” all over the State of Texas. (birds, fish, turtles that cross roads, rabbits etc etc etc)
And how does the Game Warden know you don’t have some hidden in your car or truck?
He is not required to get a warrant by law so far as I know or perhaps he is like an absentee Judge granting his own warrants. His probable cause IS the Warrant.
(i heard this in police school. I have not heard of it being abused. probably b/c of turf battles with other LEO’s)
But…this is all irrelevant anyhow thanks to the Patriot Act and King Bloomberg’s Future Crimes Minority Report Feebies.
You’re making an assertion without any supporting case law. Yet, right here on Raw there was a story a few weeks ago whereby the Judge upheld that police can NOT search a vehicle without “probable cause” during a stop/arrest of one of the occupants.
And if you’re on Federal Land, you’re not in your home or “general public”, and you agree to certain forbearance of rights under certain circumstances. That does NOT apply to your house and some government agency deciding they want to “take a peek”. There NEEDS to be PROBABLE CAUSE, which includes a REASONABLE risk to life or property.
look it up? look what up? The Game and Wildlife codes? Just like the FCC codes?
Do me a favor, show me where in the ONLY law that matters, the Constitution, it says “federal agents can just sneak and peek for their own enjoyment”.
Yes yes yes. Patriot Act overturned it all. “sneak and peek” warrantless searches were the topic de jour a few years back. As far as I know that provision of the Patriot Act still stands. Yes good point that the Game Warden cannot search your house as easily as your vehicle but I am not even sure about that.
I fear this is not what it appears to be. Radio broadcasts? ” C’mon, we’re way past radio being relevant.
The real issue is giving away wifi. The big broadband companies and telecomms don’t want you to hand out free wifi in your hood. They need the FCC to be able to scare people who are skirting local regulations that prohibit you from giving away wifi.
FCC, as usual, acts as a pawn for large companies. It’s purpose is to protect a pricing scheme of services that has no basis in cost to providing the service.
OMG, you might even give away television over internet to your neighbors!!!
To many Bushfolk kicking around the FCC.
I couldn’t agree more. They’re flunkies for GE.
If the FCC was so hell-bent on enforcing their rules, they would take away the licenses of all radio stations carrying the Rush Limbaugh program for violation of the Communications Act of 1934 which prohibits “willful or superfluous” communications. In other words you can’t just use the radio waves to lie, which Rush does daily.
The idea of an FCC inspector busting down your door is really quite funny…having been through FCC inspections at broadcast stations, I can tell you the FCC inspectors I’ve seen are little short wimpy guys.
The airwaves are owned by the PUBLIC; we have a right to put a signal out there.
Your right to put out a signal (without authorization) ends where it interferes with someone elses rights. That’s the whole point.
The article claims they get to inspect your equipment to make sure it’s not “interfering”, yet, all they need to do is stand outside your house and TEST. If it IS interfering, they have proof for a warrant, not a reason to enter your home on their own without permission.
And if no one has filed a complaint, they have no business “testing” around your facilities, either.
I already know what gun nuts think about this ruling. They are bone-stupid as usual, thinking that shooting an FCC investigator will solve all the warrantless search problems they might have with some Government Inspector. To a man, these fools have no IDEA what kinds of problems they would face if they went through on their vainglorious posturing here.
Rather than their krap, I’d rather read what a couple of good lawyers think.
As a former HAM radio operator, I know that the FCC could not enter my house without a warrant, and that radio interference was NOT my primary responsibility — never mind that it would justify a warrantless search. What changed; when and why?
To begin; I’d like to know what overriding community interest or local emergency justifies a surprise FCC search of my property for a wireless broadband (wi-fi) connector, or satellite TV cable channel.
This looks like one of the worst legal decisions made in the US in the last ten years. The EFF and the ARRL should challenge it immediately.
sc
Do you think the late Chairman Mao was “stupid” ?
He used guns to solve all sorts of problems, ever going so far as saying “POWER STEMS FROM THE BARREL OF A GUN”
If he is incorrect why do police carry them? Why do secret service carry them? To preserve POWER. Like any smart citizen was warned to do by Thomas Jefferson. gun grabbers mean well. they really do.
I can already receive unsecured wi-fi signals from my neighborhood here in California where it’s not illegal to do this if someone chooses not to secure their wi-fi signal transmission.
Under the FCC guidelines it sounds like they could interpret that their agents could enter my home without a warrant because the broadband companies aren’t getting my money for their signal. In such an instance, this would conflict with current the California law.
This FCC claim is just another step in creeping fascism.
Look at what the telecoms did when municipalities were moving toward free public wifi for all. They spent millions to lobby and enact laws to prohibit it (many places) ostensibly because it would harm their ability to make a decent profit. It was total BS. It was merely to limit competition.
Once FCC has firmed up it’s ability to enforce wifi rules, you can expect your service agreement with your broadband provider to change and FCC to enforce it for them.
Obama wants to know what you have to hide. Just like the MADD girls. If you aren’t driving drunk then you won’t mind us drawing your blood with a police department phlebotomist? (seriously APD is stinking needles into people…)
If you don’t have anything to hide you will let Federal Agents into the privacy of your home at any time. right?
I don’t understand how this links to Obama. Can you explain?
Kind of a stupid thing for the FCC to say, considering the absolutely predictable, inevitable reaction from Americans of most political persuasions.
Ya, we know “everything changed after 9/11″ but vee der homelanders don’t like being reminded that we don’t have constitutional rights anymore.
It is pure BS for them to think they can enter your home without a warrant. That may be true if you have a radio license and have to make that agreement in order to get your license, but their regulations do not supercede the constitution. Absent that, they have to have probable cause and then get a warrant.
Are there FCC regulations that say they can enter your house and torture you, is that just on the horizon ahead?
This is extremely ominous. This is being done to prepare for a time when there is no free unrestricted internet and when during martial law that the only way to communicate may end up being ham radios. It’s a furthering of the clamp down on free speech. People use to believe that people could form their own wireless internet using their routers if one now becomes too restrictive. No more.
Spot on damixaustex, spot on. That is the true reason, with WiFi’s open up more in neighborhoods its allowing people to get online without having to access there own router (and pay a fee). In this country they don’t want to give anything away free. They want to charge you for breathing in and charge you for breathing out.
I’ll have my on retainer lawyers–Smith And Wesson–standing close by if the FCC boys stop at my house.
natty–I don’t know which law school you attended, but you’re wrong. Game wardens, or however they’re known, still need probable cause to stop and probable cause to search. Only where posted on Federal Reserves can searches be done without a warrant, like entering a military base. By entering that property, with that notice in place, you have consented to a search of your person, property, or vehicle.
ACLU where are you? This is ridiculous.
Kudos Savantster (the very first post, no less) you are EXACTLY on point. No act can EVER supersede law, or set aside law, period. Impressive, my friend.
The FCC should focus on managing the airwaves in a way that keeps it from being a garbled mess. What they shouldn’t be doing is acting as a defacto Justice Department for the Telecommunications Industry. Where is the ACLU on this issue?!?
They can search home with out a warrant,,, and I can shoot them in the head for breaking and entering.
No way. That’s totally illegal!
Where in the 4th amendment does the FCC get this power?
I don’t see it in there. Is there some exception I am unaware of?
The illusory charade we try to pass for a political system has not so much as a shred of credibility left. Real power does not change hands in this country and hasn’t for a long time. JFK thought he was in power, tried to exercise it (eliminate the Fed) and the wonderful folks who were, and still are, running the U.S. sent a very clear and unmistakable message. This message was not lost on Clinton, Obama understands it as well.
The fascist’s noose is now tightening around our collective neck, and we simply stand stupified waiting to be strung up.
Why? Why are we so hopelessly impotent? Are we paralyzed with fear? In denial? Medicated to the point of complete apathy?
Time is running very short.
some good comments here for those with ears to hear. follow the money - yours and theirs. there are too many things happening at once - corporate personhood and the thieves of investment class worldwide are at the root of it all.
that 401k did not give you the stake in wall street they fed you. you have been voting for decades to give the wealthiest among you the real tax breaks as they stole your pensions and your rights at work and at home and most of your meager safety nets. you have no representative at the federal or state or local level anymore - they do not represent you. representative democracy is dead and it has been for a while because you let yourselves be bullied into believing that real campaign reform was too expensive.
you learned that al gore won the general election and that the supreme court decided that george the lesser’s reputation would be sullied if he wasn’t given your presidency. (although al could only have delayed somewhat the inevitable) you allowed yourselves to believe that norad could be shut down without direct orders from the pentagon. you allowed yourselves to believe that the 800 page patriot act was whipped up overnight and had to be signed by midnight or the trristos would win. the military commissions act and comme positatus - the list goes on …
it’s over without a whimper - they keep rubbing your nose in it and you keep posturing about what you’re gonna do if blah di blah … any one of you can be disappeared or ruined any number of ways if you are a threat to them. that is why all these attacks at once on your rights. they even put your local national guard neighbors on the front lines of a criminal war of aggression based on tortured intel lies. why are they ‘over there’? has war been declared?
i hear repugs worrying about what obama’s doing - geeze, he long lost free thinkers with f.i.s.a. which leads directly to this fcc story - chip chip chip - and we still argue amongst ourselves - that’s what talk radio was devised to do and why rush is a 400 million dollar man - selling mattresses and get out of debt scams no less.
well, our new prez is one hell of a salesman i must say. doubt he would last very long if he attempted to do the will of the people though. as the song says, ‘you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.’
btw - nothing will get better. nothing. not one thing. not really. and not for long. plant food if you can and meet your neighbors. figure out a low/no-tech way of communication between you and practice using it for something innocent like say, keeping track of the kids ‘in case of a blackout’ for example …