It is up to the end user to not break the law. But...
> In its earlier Forfeiture Order, the FCC said it had made clear that “[d]evices used in the Amateur Radio Service do not require authorization prior to being imported into the United States, but “if such equipment can operate in amateur and non-amateur frequencies, it must be certified prior to marketing and operation.” The FCC investigation found that 65 models of devices marketed by HobbyKing did not have the required FCC certification.
It's also up to the equipment manufacturer or importer to make sure the equipment they sell in the United States is certified by the FCC.
> That tragedy of commons thing is why any consumer product where you could modify the radio transmitter firmware would loose its FCC certification, making it illegal to sell in the US.
This is not true. FCC equipment approvals have both a frequency range and power level. What the FCC tried to clarify is that devices should not be able to be "easily modified" to operate outside of these approved parameters, which has always been true since way before radios had anything that could be considered software or firmware. For example, it would be against the rules to sell a radio certified for 1W power output that had a 5W power amplifier inside that could be enabled by removing a screw or something.
Firmware modification, in general, is not against FCC rules. For example, new firmware that lowered maximum power would be permissible (or firmware changes that did not affect the emissions of the device at all).
There are very few violations of the FCC's rules in general partly because the FCC regulates and certifies hardware manufacturers of radio equipment, so it's very difficult to purchase equipment that doesn't follow the rules. You can see this happening in the Wifi space where the FCC is clamping down on dd-wrt at the device manufacturer level because the software allows people to violate that frequency's rules. People with the right skills can build custom equipment to violate the rules but it's rare. And for the few people that do try to do things like pirate radio the FCC hunts them down and the penalties are stiff.
My point being that for the most part the FCC's regulatory scheme works at keeping people playing by the rules without extra layers of technically complicated security.
Electronics sold direct to end users must comply with FCC, CE LVD/EMC and other regulations. The vast majority of the hobby market ignores this though, and they don't get enforced much except for intentional transmitters.
No, that's not true, if you buy a walkie-talkie, the seller has all kinds of obligations to ensure that it follows the requirements.
Radio devices are a good example where it fact is illegal to make, sell or import transmitters that do not conform to permitted RF bands.
IIRC in USA there is an exemption in FCC rules if you're importing a device for personal use by e.g. buying it online from abroad (and then you're responsible to use it properly), but if you'd want to resell that device, you can't just transfer the liability to the user, you are responsible for ensuring that the transmitter follows FCC rules.
The amateur radio community already has a significant problem with unlicensed users on UHF and VHF, because cheap Chinese handhelds are widely marketed on Amazon and eBay with no mention of the fact that they're amateur-band equipment and require a license to use. If you search for "two-way radio" or "walkie talkie", most of the product listings make no distinction between FRS, MURS, GMRS and amateur band equipment. With wideband SDR devices falling rapidly in price, there is an impending threat to all licensed frequencies - it isn't illegal to buy or sell a HackRF One, but you can do a lot of illegal things with it if you're ignorant of or indifferent to the regulations.
FCC enforcement is light-touch and they don't have infinite investigative capacity, but they are more than willing to throw down a hefty fine if you're a flagrant violator. The encryption ban is essential in allowing amateur radio operators to monitor their own service; a large proportion of FCC enforcement actions are initiated in response to a complaint from another service user.
The article says the FCC must test all radio devices, but that's not true at all. The manufacturer is responsible for testing the device to ensure it meets FCC regulations.
If the radio frequency equipment is modified by any party other than the grantee and that party is not working under the authorization of the grantee pursuant to Sec. 2.929(b), the party performing the modification is responsible for compliance of the product with the applicable administrative and technical provisions in this chapter.
In other words, if it's a certified device (has an FCC ID number on the label), you would need to obtain a new certification (new FCC ID) after making your modifications. Doing so would probably eat whatever profits you stand to make (and then some).
I don't know how big HobbyKing is, and surely agree than the RF spectrum is a fragile limited resource that we must use properly, and therefore abuses must be punished, however $3M seems a lot. That fine could destroy a business and send home a lot of people, probably none of which have any responsibility on the matter. Did the FCC at least give HobbyKing the chance to withdraw those products?
One more thing that the average hacker should know about radio regulation:
You can homebrew a radio yourself and it doesn't need FCC approval if you're a ham operating on ham bands with all the appropriate standards.
You are however not allowed to sell radios at a commercial scale unless it's FCC approved, even if it's for hams. But I think (IANAL) you're allowed to sell homebrew gear in like garage sale-type deals.
The FCC is certainly the problem in this case. If someone modifies the product to break the law the person is at fault not the manufacturer. That someone could do modify their radio to do bad things shouldn't stop me from modifying mine to do good things.
I could maybe understand not allowing non-hams to own such radios - you really can't trust any random person not to do dumb shit like transmit garbage on emergency frequencies, but the whole reason ham licenses exist is to prove to the government that you know how to properly, safely and legally operate a radio. The FCC has gone too far on this one (they seem to do that a lot...).
I just hope this doesn't get picked up by some moron from the EU. They've already fucked up our Internet. Please, don't take away my garbage ebay radio too.
True, but is misuse facilitated by modern firmware really that prevalent? Or is it just as likely that an enthusiast would violate the regulations by building non-compliant radio equipment from components?
The only way to really prevent misuse would be to regulate the supply of any electronic components that could be used to build non-compliant equipment.
A better solution would be to include warnings with all certified equipment that it must be operated in accordance with regulations, as we do now.
I think the threat is being overstated and the proposed solution too bluntly applied.
Your first two sentences are contradicted by the quote and your followup.
Ues the FCC cares and yes they must use it, when using the FM teansmitter.
The FCC most certainly should be monitoring these compliance requirements. I suspect someone at the FCC noticed they weren't transmitting, asked, then the owner claimed the just found out.. someone stole the tower!
The FCC/ETSI certification isn't too much of a barrier, being a matter mainly of money. Any manufacturer can pay to have their product tested by a third party lab and certified to conform to FCC/ETSI regulations.
The real barrier is the spectrum licensing, which is a matter for the operator rather than the manufacturer. These at the rules that say that a particular carrier payed for the exclusive use of a band of frequencies and no one else is allowed to use that spectrum.
As I understand it though, the law is reactive, in that the law is not broken by owning a capable device, but by using it. Even then, the enforcement depends on a complaint from the carrier (ie. they have to catch you), but if you get caught the penalties are severe.
"the operators go out on the air using strong transmitters built from bits and pieces of equipment stolen from factories or bought on the black market.... Under Section 206 of the criminal code, officials confiscate their equipment and impose fines of up to one month's salary."
Unauthorized radio transmissions are not exactly welcome in Western societies either:
The problem starts with the fact that the device doesn't have any way of showing that it was modified, and some of the frequencies involved are license-restricted (especially in 5GHz wifi bands - 2.4GHz is dumping ground free-for-all because of aircraft ovens anyway).
So, let's say you modify something with your own firmware, break rules about ISM spectrum - or worse, mess with SDR hard enough you break some licensed spectrum, and upon investigation FCC certification marks are found and the number. Since certification points to vendor, vendor now has to explain why their device went outside of those limits, and might or might not be able to prove that you ran it with unlicensed firmware.
So an obviously home build device will go under §15.23 easily, but inconspicuously modified commercially sold device won't - without possibly long court case, that is.
> In its earlier Forfeiture Order, the FCC said it had made clear that “[d]evices used in the Amateur Radio Service do not require authorization prior to being imported into the United States, but “if such equipment can operate in amateur and non-amateur frequencies, it must be certified prior to marketing and operation.” The FCC investigation found that 65 models of devices marketed by HobbyKing did not have the required FCC certification.
It's also up to the equipment manufacturer or importer to make sure the equipment they sell in the United States is certified by the FCC.
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