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can a pirate sue the FCC?

F

fccman

If the FCC shuts down pirates here in Massachusetts, but allows Touch FM to stay on the air, isn't that discrimination and can the pirate sue the FCC?

Maybe there is a lawyer out there that can tell us if this is possible.
 
I don't know how much luck they'd have given that they too are involved in an illegal enterprise
but it would surely be interesting if so.
 
fccman said:
If the FCC shuts down pirates here in Massachusetts, but allows Touch FM to stay on the air, isn't that discrimination and can the pirate sue the FCC?

Maybe there is a lawyer out there that can tell us if this is possible.
Click to expand...

This brings to mind the example traffic cop who chooses one speeder out of many to pull over. He can enforce the law (i.e., give out a ticket) against the one he pulls over without having to track down the speeders who got away with it and give them a ticket as well. Same reasoning is applied to the "selected enforcement" by the FCC of pirates...they can fine/shut down any one illegal operation without having to do the same thing to everyone else. It's not discrimination, it's just the bad luck of the person or station that gets caught.
 
Licensed stations should be able to sue the FCC for not enforcing the rules.

But the FCC has time to bust nuts about a public file or a missed EAS test on a licensed broadcaster. It's like the traffic cop pulling over a speeder that's 5 over the limit and letting the stolen car go.
 
Keeping a stations public file up to date and doing EAS tests are not that difficult to do. If they bust a stations nuts for for an infraction they are lazy and they deserve it! ::)
 
ned said:
Anybody can sue anybody, including the FCC....
Click to expand...

And where did you get your law degree? Sear Roebuck and Co? ;D

I think the term the lawyers use is: You must have standing. You have to demonstrate to the court that there is a law that gives you "permission" to sue. Oh, you can file a suit if you like. But if you don't have "standing", you will find yourself "thrown out of court". Anyone can sue. Few can win or "prevail".
 
Keeping a stations public file up to date and doing EAS tests are not that difficult to do. If they bust a stations nuts for for an infraction they are lazy and they deserve it!
Click to expand...

Yes, you're correct. My point was that they're worrying about the little things when there's a big fat elephant in the room.
 
WNTIRadio said:
Licensed stations should be able to sue the FCC for not enforcing the rules.

But the FCC has time to bust nuts about a public file or a missed EAS test on a licensed broadcaster. It's like the traffic cop pulling over a speeder that's 5 over the limit and letting the stolen car go.
Click to expand...

Wonder if 106.1 has an EAS box and a public file? :)
 
WNTIRadio said:
Keeping a stations public file up to date and doing EAS tests are not that difficult to do. If they bust a stations nuts for for an infraction they are lazy and they deserve it!
Click to expand...

Yes, you're correct. My point was that they're worrying about the little things when there's a big fat elephant in the room.
Click to expand...
Well, In this case that elephant would be the FCC's own refusal to regard part 15 rules.
The atrocious rf noise produced by equipment with "non-linear" operations and power handling is illegal.
Yet they continue to authorize the design of ever-worse noisemakers, and do nothing to stop the manufacture or importation.
Frequently, rf supression components aren't installed even when space is already provided on circuit boards.
This saves manufacturers real money, and raises the noise for everyone.
I don't think you can sue someone into doing a job they said they would do, agreed to do, and were commisioned to do.
Even when they got to write the rules and now you're just asking them to live up to one of their own rules.

I was just about as impressed with the United States Patent Office.
Apparently no one there who examines "electronic" type patent submissions knows about electronic theory.
They are just robotics who work like a search engine, find prior art and then present the prior art in ways that prove their ignorance
of the essential matter at hand. You simply cannot find anyone there who is about "invention" above a certain
raw economic level. They are rubber stampers for corporate protection. Corporations come the the USPTO, pay their money,
and buy their protection. When an individual seeks such protection, it seem you can't even ask then to perform due diligence.
They can't be bothered with thinking about actual inventions when they have paying customers waiting in line.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
ned said:
Anybody can sue anybody, including the FCC....
Click to expand...

And where did you get your law degree? Sear Roebuck and Co? ;D

I think the term the lawyers use is: You must have standing. You have to demonstrate to the court that there is a law that gives you "permission" to sue. Oh, you can file a suit if you like. But if you don't have "standing", you will find yourself "thrown out of court". Anyone can sue. Few can win or "prevail".
Click to expand...
A person can sue the government (federal and local) for applying a law in a discriminatory manner, i.e. arresting some people for a crime but not others based on a race, religion, gender, etc. That claim would be the basis for any action against the FCC for closing down some pirates and not others. The standing would be that the closed down pirates were subject to FCC action based on their presumed race or national origin.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
ned said:
Anybody can sue anybody, including the FCC....
Click to expand...

And where did you get your law degree? Sear Roebuck and Co? ;D

I think the term the lawyers use is: You must have standing. You have to demonstrate to the court that there is a law that gives you "permission" to sue. Oh, you can file a suit if you like. But if you don't have "standing", you will find yourself "thrown out of court". Anyone can sue. Few can win or "prevail".

It's actually "Sears" and Roebuck. And like I said, anybody can SUE anybody. it doesn't mean they will win....
Click to expand...
 
The FCC has kind of put themselves in a difficult place, because they have this longstanding agenda of wanting to promote minority radio ownership, and these folks would obviously qualify, except there's no frequencies available. So now what can the FCC do? This is why nothing has been done in this area after 20 years of hearings, seminars, and countless requests for comments.
 
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