Anybody want to butt heads with Florida Law? Here's the statute:
Title XLVI
Chapter 877 Miscellaneous Crimes
877.27 Unauthorized transmissions to, or interference with, a public or commercial radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission prohibited; penalties.--
1) A person may not:
a) Make, or cause to be made, a radio transmission in this state unless the person obtains a license from the Federal Communications Commission under 47 U.S.C. s. 301, or other applicable federal law or regulation; or
Anybody want to butt heads with Florida Law? Here's the statute:
Title XLVI
Chapter 877 Miscellaneous Crimes
877.27 Unauthorized transmissions to, or interference with, a public or commercial radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission prohibited; penalties.--
1) A person may not:
a) Make, or cause to be made, a radio transmission in this state unless the person obtains a license from the Federal Communications Commission under 47 U.S.C. s. 301, or other applicable federal law or regulation; or
b) Do any act, whether direct or indirect, to cause an unlicensed radio transmission to, or interfere with, a public or commercial radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or to enable the radio transmission or interference to occur.
(2) A person who violates this section comits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775083, or s. 775.084
History.--s. 1, ch. 2004-58
This is scary putting this badly written law in the hands of local officials. Who decides what is interference?
Hi!
This doens't affect part 15 broadcasting at all. This legislation was targeted at pirate stations that were truly causing deliberate interference to licensed stations. And it also gave some needed positive publicity to some law enforcement agencies.
This phrase in the law "or other applicable federal law or regulation" would have to allow part 15 broadcasting as it is part of the FCC's rules and regulations. Being unlicensed does not make it illegal. Otherwise many medical devices, CD players, MP3 players, Satellite radio adapters, and even CB radios, FRS radios, and cordless telephones would be illegal. If you are following the guidelines of part 15 you are safe.
My biggest gripe about Florida (other than the elections) is the way some of the law enforcement agencies, specifically the Broward County Sheriff's department have used this law for posturing. That department said in an interview that ALL unlicensed broadcasters were pirates. They also said that ALL unlicensed broadcasters were deliberately interfering with licensed broadcast stations. This made a good quote for the newspaper, and perhaps added to their egoism, but it was completely false. Misinformation seems to be the rule of the day and there are those that take full advantage of it.
Now I'd better get off my soapbox before it collapses.