Recently the FCC levied fines of over $144K to a Florida pirate(s) and a Texas amateur radio operator of $18K that they will never collect.
It's all smoke and mirrors for the public.
What's the point?
Why don't they collect?
I assume you have your day in court if you want to contest the charge but they are a law enforcement agency so why do you get out of paying?
If you were found guilty how do you not pay.
How are you going to collect $144K from someone that doesn't have $144K?
How are you going to collect $144K from someone that doesn’t have $144K?
You won't ... so you go after everything else: Property, 10-15% of their gross pay, assets, Social Security checks, any inheritance left to them, retirement accounts --- there is plenty to tap, not just now but for years to come.
Sweet dreams.
Source: FederalPrisonTalk.Com
I wonder if there are any statistics lying around about how many actually do pay their fines, and of those who don't, how much the Feds manage to squeeze out of them in the long run.
Stats? Probably not. But if you have a week to kill, and a friend who works in Federal Court record-keeping, you can dig as deep as you need to.
Used to be a long time ago in Toronto that if you got a traffic ticket or parking ticket even, and were found guilty you had a choice, pay the fine or 3 days in jail.
If it was a large fine there were lots who took a weekend in jail and it would cost them more and no fine would be paid.
Maybe something like that exists with the pirate radio fines?
There is a HUGE difference between collecting fines from giant corporations with huge legal departments, and collecting fines from an individual or small company. If John Q. Ham gets fined $50,000 he can ask for a reduction based on ability to pay. If they turn that down it's pretty easy to put a lien on an individuals bank accounts, real estate, tax refunds, etc and gather that money. AT&T doesn't have a simple checking account that the FCC can just file a claim against. YOU do. Or a savings account. Or a home. Or a car. Or a paycheck. it's different if they're trying to latch onto your Social Security or disability, but it can be done too, and a lot easier than getting $$ from a megacorporation.
And after you die those debts can remain in place and come out of your estate. This is one of the many reasons to make sure that when you die NOTHING goes to your estate. This can be easily avoided, where everything from real estate, to cars, to cash in banks, retirement funds, etc can all directly transfer to those you choose without a will, and without it going into an estate and through probate. This is a good idea no matter what. But it does assure that your assets don't wind up going to the government.
Anyway, you need to realize that these big companies that turn up in the news as referenced in the linked article above never pay a fine anyway. They may wind up giving the $$ to the FCC eventually, but this sort of stuff is figured into their cost of doing business. The CUSTOMERS pay the fines. These costs are figured into the cost of providing services and the amount charged customers is adjusted to cover those costs. Just like any other business expense. You don't think the officers and President of AT&T take a pay cut to cover these fines, do you? So people think "Yay! A big win for the FCC and the people of the country!" In reality it's those people who pay. Just like when some big company gets sued for building something that injures someone, or poison's someone, or violates someone's rights, and they win a big lawsuit. It's the CUSTOMER who pays for those lawsuits and fines. It's part of the cost of doing business. Not to mention whatever they were doing that was illegal was probably generating additional revenue in the first place. Add to that that in some cases some monies paid for fines are tax deductible for a business! Law says they're not, but there are plenty of small details and loopholes.
It's a lot different when it's just one guy. It's easy to collect even if it may take some time. Because in the case of a ham, or a pirate, etc that fine is coming out of their pocket. They don't have a million customers to bill a smidge extra to to cover the cost. If they fine a guy 150,000 and he's a typical guy who lives paycheck to paycheck, and asks for a reduction 'cause he can't pay, and they drop it to 5,000 that's still a heck of a lot of dough out of your pocket or mine. And it might make you think twice before trying it again.
TIB
My bet is that these individuals rarely pay any of the fines either.
It still costs money (time and effort at the very least) to go after payment. And the actions can be fought in court, taking even more time and effort (and money).
The huge fines look impressive, and may act as a deterrent if taken at face value, but I doubt the government gets much out of them.
In my nearly 50 years as a ham I personally knew three hams who paid what seemed to me to be rather substantial fines. So, they do.
There are thousands of fines levied every year, most are not newsworthy so we never hear about it. They systems are pretty automated. It doesn't take much to go after payment. Look at the efficiency of a typical collection agency. Much like the IRS.
I have known plenty of broadcasters who have indeed paid rather substantial fines, and read about plenty others. A small bump on the advertising rate card generally covers them in short order.
Telecom and cable companies pay lots of fines. But again, it's not always newsworthy.
I'm a bit perplexed by the motivation of this thread. "Don't worry about being a pirate, they'll never collect the fine anyway?". Seems like a foolhardy and somewhat dangerous thought process to me.
As an individual a $500 fine, $1500 dollar fine, $5000 fine would be quite easy to collect and have a major impact on most here. A $50M fine to a giant corporation is nothing.
TIB