FCC reminds us not to do anything illegal

I got this odd email from the FCC this morning:

From: FCC Office of Media Relations <[email protected]>
Subject: Enforcement Advisory to Amateur & Personal Radio Service Licenses & Operators
Date: January 17, 2021 at 9:45 AM

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau today issued an Enforcement Advisory warning amateur and personal radio services licensees and operators that they may not use radio equipment to commit or facilitate criminal acts.  The Enforcement Advisory says: “The Bureau has become aware of discussions on social media platforms suggesting that certain radio services regulated by the Commission may be an alternative to social media platforms for groups to communicate and coordinate future activities.  The Bureau recognizes that these services can be used for a wide range of permitted purposes, including speech that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Amateur and Personal Radio Services, however, may not be used to commit or facilitate crimes.  Specifically, the Bureau reminds amateur licensees that they are prohibited from transmitting ‘communications intended to facilitate a criminal act’ or ‘messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning.’”

The full enforcement advisory is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-73A1.pdf

Media Contact: Will Wiquist, [email protected]

This is, of course, in response to the call by some to use amateur radio in place of social media outlets, such as Twitter and Parler. Here’s a CNN story reporting on this. And, of course, preppers have been getting licenses for years.

I find it kind of funny that the FCC would issue such a statement. After all, isn’t it obvious that using personal radio services for illegal purposes is also illegal?

As for using amateur radio as a substitute for Twitter or Parler, I think that those that try this will be very disappointed. Amateur radio really isn’t set up for one-to-many or many-to-many communications like social media websites are. I think those that try to use ham radio in place of social media are going to find that it’s too much work for too little gain. Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll come up with a novel approach.

If I were in law enforcement, I might be more worried about the use of DMR encryption. I’m certainly no expert, but it sounds like it would be awful tough to decrypt a DMR communication if they use the 40-bit encryption mode.

At any rate, I haven’t heard of any unusual activity in this area, but I’m curious if you have where you are. If so, please let us—and perhaps the Volunteer Monitor Program—know.