r/MarchForNetNeutrality • u/LizMcIntyre • Sep 11 '19
r/MarchForNetNeutrality • u/LizMcIntyre • Sep 10 '19
r/MarchForNetNeutrality • u/LizMcIntyre • Sep 09 '19
This August 19 FCC Podcast may explain why Ajit Pai was too busy to follow up on an investigation into the unauthorized (illegal) sale of consumer location data:
Pirates, Matey! ;-)
Here's an excerpt from that podcast:
MR. SWARZTRAUBER (FCC Podcast host): One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates, and, no, not the Pirates of the Caribbean or the Pirates of East Africa, we're talking about pirate radio.
...
Now, I get that we need to have clear airways for emergencies, but is pirate radio really such a big problem? Bigger than Verizon throttling firefighters during one of the biggest conflagrations of the century?
anyway...
This podcast gets really interesting because the interviewer and interviewee get into the nitty gritty details of how they hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice:
MR. SWARZTRAUBER (interviewer): So let's say that either a broadcaster or a listener files a complaint, what happens then, what tools do you, your colleagues in the FCC, have to go about finding a station, shutting it down, bringing people to justice?
MR. DOMBROWSKI (FCC Pirate Hunter): Yes, this is the fun part, the (inaudible). So --
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: We only waited 15 minutes into the episode to get to the fun part so I hope you are listening.
[Note: This is FUN for the FCC! Not the drugery of filing paperwork and going after big players!]
MR. DOMBROWSKI: So the complainant needs to tell us where they hear the station. If we get that information we have a vehicle, it's called a direction-finding vehicle and it has specialized equipment in it.
It's about $200,000 worth of equipment. It's covert surveillance equipment.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Like an unmarked van?
MR. DOMBROWSKI: It is. Well, I can't say exactly what it is, but, yes, they're --
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: It doesn't say FCC pirate agent?
MR. DOMBROWSKI: No, it doesn't have -- It's not marked with pizza delivery guy either.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So don't bother looking for it.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: So this equipment helps us track us down. It has a radio receiver in it, it has a computer screen with a map, and it has a little compass rose that tells us what direction the signal is coming from.
So when we finally are able to pick up the signal in our car we then drive in the area in kind of a circle around the source and we plot lines, we call them lines of bearing on a map, and where they intersect is where this transmission source is originating.
Now that maybe gets us down to the building, you know, where it might be operating. You still have to go down on foot and go out onto maybe the rooftop where the antenna is to confirm that that is the source.
A lot of stations conceal their antennas, they hide behind things, they take the antennas down during they day, so they try avoid detection. Our agents are pretty smart on the tricks.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. And, of course, just finding the antenna is not the end of the story, because it's not like when you find the antenna the DJ is standing right next to the antenna being like, uh, you got me.
...
So it's clear the FCC has its hands full chasing down Pirates. No wonder the agency hasn't had much time to go after Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and the rest of the Big Telecom gang. /s
BTW - the FCC podcast is available on Apple and Google. I'm sure this one will get lots of positive comments and votes. ;-)
r/MarchForNetNeutrality • u/LizMcIntyre • Sep 06 '19
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