US radio hams stage website fight-backs

A new twist on the ham radio regulatory enforcement scene in the United States. This, as some radio amateurs accused of wrong-doing by the Federal Communications Commission take to the World Wide Web to plead their case or denounce the regulatory agency as interfering with their right to free speech.

In the wake of a recent FCC announcement that only final actions in ham radio matters would be made public, some radio hams accused of Part 97 infractions are taking their story public with websites and on-line blogs of their own. The reason seems to be to let the ham radio public know that they intend to fight the government accusations made against them.

Back on January 15th the FCC announced that due to privacy concerns that it was dramatically scaling back the amount of information it would make public in regard to it Amateur Service enforcement actions. Up until then it had been common practice for the agency to release letters to individuals that require a specific response to an allegation of wrong doing, Now the only information made public are Notices of Violation, Notices of Apparent Liability to Monetary Forfeiture and other final actions in a given case.

But in a strange turn of events, this new FCC posture to protect the identifies of those accused has lead at least two or three such people to create cyberspace homes. Places on the web where they have posted the violation notices that they received along with their respective views or responses.

The reason that these sites and blogs appearing is unclear since one would think that most hams who receive letters of inquiry regarding their on-the-air operating practices would tend to want to keep the matter quiet and settle the issue well out of the public eye.

It will be interesting to see how many more of these sites show up as ham radio rules enforcement continues and some on the receiving end of FCC notices going public to fight back.

Source: ARNewsline