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FCC Investigating Amazon Over Sale of Illegal Products

davideduardo

davideduardo

Moderator/Administrator
Staff member
finance.yahoo.com

US FCC investigating Amazon over alleged sale of outlawed products

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is investigating Amazon and other retailers for the alleged marketing and selling of unlawful electronic devices, an FCC spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday. "We have several ongoing investigations into retailers, including Amazon, for potential...
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com

This article talks about RF devices used to control drones and automated devices. But if the probe expands, it could include all the non-type accepted and illegal-to-use-in-the-US RF devices like the transmitters pirates use.

I've never filed an informal protest with the Commission, but it would seem that even the NAB should tel the FCC that they need to expand their inquiry to include illegal transmitters and suppliers other than Amazon as well.
 
They're going after "jammer" devices that can be used disable security cameras and block Wi-Fi networks. These burglary tools are a major problem for all Americans.

I realize everyone has their own special interest but I wouldn't put non-type-accepted FM radio transmitters anywhere near the same priority level as getting the security system jammers off the market.
 
Why should online retailers sell any kind of illegal or restricted product?

On the other hand, in California, there are a variety of home cleaning, and maintenance products that Amazon will not ship to me, because they are prohibited in California. If they can follow state laws, why can’t they follow national laws?
 
Agree with Theatre Of The Mind here on the FM transmitters. I would think they are the least of the NAB's worries. Plus, the FCC seems to be cracking down on pirates a lot more than they used to.

It would be nice if more electronics devices were RFI free, as claimed on the labelling. Of course, that sort of investigation will never happen. Genie's been out of that bottle for a couple decades.....
 
DavidEduardo said:
Why should online retailers sell any kind of illegal or restricted product?
Click to expand...
To gain a further advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers.

The huge number of online retailers, the difficulty of tracing their origin and ownership details ... I can see some of the smaller, more obscure ones being able to get away with selling all manner of dodgy merchandise with little risk of being caught by regulators who'd be swamped by the workload if they were to attempt to crack down on all of them.
 
On an article about FCC complaints, someone stated that some companies like Spectrum (maybe Amazon) have some kind of share in the FCC and the government and they are "part" of it, but it seems to me like filing a complaint did make Spectrum respond (they have deceptive billing practices), so I am not sure if that comment has any kind of merit.
 
tall_guy1 said:
On an article about FCC complaints, someone stated that some companies like Spectrum (maybe Amazon) have some kind of share in the FCC and the government and they are "part" of it, but it seems to me like filing a complaint did make Spectrum respond (they have deceptive billing practices), so I am not sure if that comment has any kind of merit.
Click to expand...
It does not.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Why should online retailers sell any kind of illegal or restricted product?
Click to expand...
People buy stuff all the time online that either isn't legal in their states, taxed heavily or is way too expensive locally. Right or wrong, it's what people do. States can't keep up with all of it. They crack down on one online retailer of shady products, five others come to replace it.

So most states take a live/live solution; You can have it. Just don't let us catch you with it.

AlligatorClipz said:
Right now for $18 you can jam police, fire, ems, and all sorts of wireless remote controls and alarm systems.
Click to expand...
The nuclear option is this thing:

61T3rYViQxL._AC_SY741_.jpg

Here's what the government is really upset over; This is a WiFi hacking watch. You can easily intercept WiFi, jam WiFi, collect data packets, crack passwords to steal or hijack WiFi. Stuff that would otherwise require a high power laptop with Kali Linux and macchanger (to cover your system's MAC address so they don't find you) and a lot of training. (It isn't for hacking novices.)
 
DavidEduardo said:
Why should online retailers sell any kind of illegal or restricted product?

On the other hand, in California, there are a variety of home cleaning, and maintenance products that Amazon will not ship to me, because they are prohibited in California. If they can follow state laws, why can’t they follow national laws?
Click to expand...
I live in the next state over and sometimes relatives will ask me to order certain items and they come pick it up.
 
Negin said:
I live in the next state over and sometimes relatives will ask me to order certain items and they come pick it up.
Click to expand...
There are always work-arounds to laws involving trade, and unless we become a total police state with every citizen's move tracked 24/7, the sort of thing you describe will happen, often and easily. I remember on XMFan, the old XM message board, seeing posts from Canadians who set up a U.S. mail drop to get the American XM channel lineup, and even one from a Cuban who set up a Canadian mail drop to get XM service, period. Should XM have vetted these transactions? What? And turn away money? Surely you jest!
 
CTListener said:
There are always work-arounds to laws involving trade, and unless we become a total police state with every citizen's move tracked 24/7, the sort of thing you describe will happen, often and easily. I remember on XMFan, the old XM message board, seeing posts from Canadians who set up a U.S. mail drop to get the American XM channel lineup, and even one from a Cuban who set up a Canadian mail drop to get XM service, period. Should XM have vetted these transactions? What? And turn away money? Surely you jest!
Click to expand...
Years ago, in southern California areas that were in the shadow of satellites serving Mexico and Latin America, many people would subscribe to satellite services from Mexico to get soccer games that were not carried in the U.S. That sort of work-around is nothing new!
 
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