As most ham radio operators know, and as some pirate radio stations have found out, the FCC enjoys broad power to come into your house and “inspect” your equipment.
The FCC doesn’t need a warrant to come in and “inspect” your ham equipment, although if they intend on seizing equipment, they need to work with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
One FCC official is taking that power one step furthur.
FCC spokesman David Fiske says that if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.
The FCC’s power to inspect comes from Section 303(n) of the Communications Act of 1934, although it has never undergone a serious court test.
The FCC actually has a inspection document (click to read) which explicitly lays out it authority to inspect.
You might say ok, they can only inspect, they cannot use anything they see as evidence against me for anything else….well you would be wrong.
In the 1987 Supreme Court Case New York v. Burger, if inspectors should notice evidence of unrelated criminal behavior — say, a marijuana plant or an unregistered gun — a Supreme Court decision suggests the search can be used against the resident.
“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says.
So make sure that if you hear that knock on the door and it is the FCC asking to inspect your equipment, you have to let them in to inspect it.
credit (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/fcc-raid/)
73, Jack K4SAC
K4SAC RSS FEED
I don’t think the FCC spokesman is taking it one step further, that’s always what the law has been. Anytime someone purchases a Part 15 device, they essentially become an FCC licensee. Most folks just don’t know it. A lot of the early wireless ISPs thought they could do anything in the 2.4 Ghz band until the requirements of Part 15 became widely known in the industry. BPL vendors and system operators operating under Part 15 thought the same as well.