Dear president, please make me chairman of the FCC.
I feel I am qualified due to my advanced knowledge of telcom and rf, from 8 years of working as a climber and technician in the industry, but also my advanced knowledge of government bureaucracy.
I have a plan to bring order to the airwaves. Deregulation, enforcement and jurisdiction.
For my first reform, deregulation
Business, industry, recreational and public safety all suffer from one thing, a general lack of available, and affordable bandwidth.
Hunters using VHF marine channels assigned to commercial and non commercial traffic in inland areas on a secondary basis. Before GMRS and MURS this was really the only readily accessible option for hunters, besides cumbersome, short ranged citizens band handhelds. Are hunters using these channels on a secondary basis a threat to maritime safety, to commerce or commercial business? Is this highly illegal under the edicts of a federal bureaucracy, yes, and they will fine your ass!
As new chairman these channels will be available to non commercial and small commercial business on a secondary basis in inland areas.
But before that, the rule on ship to shore communication needs abolished immediately, god forbid my boat breaks down and I cannot call my wife for help.
Tens of thousands of businesses, mostly itinerant use frequencies for which they have no license. Radio shops are all too quick to sell a radios without informing the business of the technicalities of licensing. This has been common practice for years, so much that certain frequencies not allocated to public safety or government have been given names, blue dot, red dot, yellow dot, dot 1, etc. Most businesses are entirely unaware they could be in serious trouble with the FCC for simply using their new, 'walky talkies'.
Once again, I propose these frequencies be allowed unlicensed commercial use on a secondary basis to licensed users who have "bought" the frequency.
Similar policies should be implemented for other services as well as low power microbroadcasters, citizens band, etc.
Citizens band should too be made a viable alternative for small business and reliable private communications. Increase from 4watts to 40watts AM, even more on SSB, and CTCSS calling, not tone squelch but calling or paging should be implemented.
For my next reform, enforcement
The other thing I as chairman would do is reform FCC enforcement.
The new motto of the FCC should be, "zero tolerance for wilful, malicious or careless interference". Part of this plan would be to eliminate many FCC enforcement positions to be replaced with volunteers, who in some cases would receive a monetary reward for locating sources of deliberate or careless interference. Malicious, as defined as intentional, to cause harm or to deliberately disrupt lawful communications on a frequency one is not licensed or authorized to use.
Careless, as defined as unintentional, to accidental cause cause harm or disrupt lawful communications on a frequency one is not licensed or authorized to use, either through ignorance or carelessness.
Amateur Radio, a dying radio service used primarily by aging old men to talk about the weather and their medical problems, should be re-evaluated for its usefulness to society. The days of innovation by amateur operators are all but gone, their contributions to innovation for the benefit of the country are almost nil. Their only worth seems to be disaster response, and weather monitoring programs. As fewer and fewer people of the younger generations become licensed amateurs, this services demise seems inevitable unless changes are made. This is all a generalization and there are exceptions to the rule, such as myself, but without traffic, and with minimal benefit to populace, amateur frequencies are doomed to be slowly taken away and given to more productive uses, rather than to become dead air, beacons, and SSTV still images of some dudes fat ugly wife in a bikini.
I propose that volunteer organizations be created, private but operating under the authority of the FCC, to help enforce FCC regulations pertaining to any malicious or careless interference in the spectrum. The primary goal of these volunteers should be to document, record and locate the source of such transmissions and to report the location to the nearest FCC field office for further enforcement. Such actions were once common practice for many amateur operators although in the past the motivations have primarily been to protect their own allocated bandwidth. As such there will be a cash reward for information leading to the conviction of the operator of a station which causes intentional and careless interference, especially when this interferes with public safety or licensed commercial users.
A secondary function of these volunteer organizations is to inform the public, to advise and help coordinate frequencies, to assist individuals and companies in finding an adequate communications system. To raise public awareness of good operating practices and standards, and of the possible consequences, including loss of life and property, of irresponsible and malicious interference.
The penalties for such shall be increased. For malicious interference, in addition to fines greatly exceeding the amount an individual could ever possibly pay in their lifetime, one shall be sexually violated by either an equine animal, eg, a horse, or a donkey, or a cross between therof.
The penalties for careless interference shall be determined based on the nature of the offense, ranging from a letter of warning to a $1000 fine and forfeiture of equipment.
For my third reform, Jurisdiction
That is is my legal opinion, that the scope of jurisdiction of the FCC is not only an unnecessary drain on the commissions resources, but may also very well be illegal under the Constitution and the laws of interstate commerce.
The jurisdiction of enforcement should only pertain to transmissions which cross state lines, as such must be detectable across state lines for the commission to have jurisdiction over such transmissions.
All other enforcement actions are up to the states themselves under the powers given under the 10th amendment of the constitution.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."....
And thats how I would run the FCC. Just 2 more years of a Manchurian candidate and perhaps the backlash will finally bring about, some change.
RAND PAUL 2012!
I feel I am qualified due to my advanced knowledge of telcom and rf, from 8 years of working as a climber and technician in the industry, but also my advanced knowledge of government bureaucracy.
I have a plan to bring order to the airwaves. Deregulation, enforcement and jurisdiction.
For my first reform, deregulation
Business, industry, recreational and public safety all suffer from one thing, a general lack of available, and affordable bandwidth.
Hunters using VHF marine channels assigned to commercial and non commercial traffic in inland areas on a secondary basis. Before GMRS and MURS this was really the only readily accessible option for hunters, besides cumbersome, short ranged citizens band handhelds. Are hunters using these channels on a secondary basis a threat to maritime safety, to commerce or commercial business? Is this highly illegal under the edicts of a federal bureaucracy, yes, and they will fine your ass!
As new chairman these channels will be available to non commercial and small commercial business on a secondary basis in inland areas.
But before that, the rule on ship to shore communication needs abolished immediately, god forbid my boat breaks down and I cannot call my wife for help.
Tens of thousands of businesses, mostly itinerant use frequencies for which they have no license. Radio shops are all too quick to sell a radios without informing the business of the technicalities of licensing. This has been common practice for years, so much that certain frequencies not allocated to public safety or government have been given names, blue dot, red dot, yellow dot, dot 1, etc. Most businesses are entirely unaware they could be in serious trouble with the FCC for simply using their new, 'walky talkies'.
Once again, I propose these frequencies be allowed unlicensed commercial use on a secondary basis to licensed users who have "bought" the frequency.
Similar policies should be implemented for other services as well as low power microbroadcasters, citizens band, etc.
Citizens band should too be made a viable alternative for small business and reliable private communications. Increase from 4watts to 40watts AM, even more on SSB, and CTCSS calling, not tone squelch but calling or paging should be implemented.
For my next reform, enforcement
The other thing I as chairman would do is reform FCC enforcement.
The new motto of the FCC should be, "zero tolerance for wilful, malicious or careless interference". Part of this plan would be to eliminate many FCC enforcement positions to be replaced with volunteers, who in some cases would receive a monetary reward for locating sources of deliberate or careless interference. Malicious, as defined as intentional, to cause harm or to deliberately disrupt lawful communications on a frequency one is not licensed or authorized to use.
Careless, as defined as unintentional, to accidental cause cause harm or disrupt lawful communications on a frequency one is not licensed or authorized to use, either through ignorance or carelessness.
Amateur Radio, a dying radio service used primarily by aging old men to talk about the weather and their medical problems, should be re-evaluated for its usefulness to society. The days of innovation by amateur operators are all but gone, their contributions to innovation for the benefit of the country are almost nil. Their only worth seems to be disaster response, and weather monitoring programs. As fewer and fewer people of the younger generations become licensed amateurs, this services demise seems inevitable unless changes are made. This is all a generalization and there are exceptions to the rule, such as myself, but without traffic, and with minimal benefit to populace, amateur frequencies are doomed to be slowly taken away and given to more productive uses, rather than to become dead air, beacons, and SSTV still images of some dudes fat ugly wife in a bikini.
I propose that volunteer organizations be created, private but operating under the authority of the FCC, to help enforce FCC regulations pertaining to any malicious or careless interference in the spectrum. The primary goal of these volunteers should be to document, record and locate the source of such transmissions and to report the location to the nearest FCC field office for further enforcement. Such actions were once common practice for many amateur operators although in the past the motivations have primarily been to protect their own allocated bandwidth. As such there will be a cash reward for information leading to the conviction of the operator of a station which causes intentional and careless interference, especially when this interferes with public safety or licensed commercial users.
A secondary function of these volunteer organizations is to inform the public, to advise and help coordinate frequencies, to assist individuals and companies in finding an adequate communications system. To raise public awareness of good operating practices and standards, and of the possible consequences, including loss of life and property, of irresponsible and malicious interference.
The penalties for such shall be increased. For malicious interference, in addition to fines greatly exceeding the amount an individual could ever possibly pay in their lifetime, one shall be sexually violated by either an equine animal, eg, a horse, or a donkey, or a cross between therof.
The penalties for careless interference shall be determined based on the nature of the offense, ranging from a letter of warning to a $1000 fine and forfeiture of equipment.
For my third reform, Jurisdiction
That is is my legal opinion, that the scope of jurisdiction of the FCC is not only an unnecessary drain on the commissions resources, but may also very well be illegal under the Constitution and the laws of interstate commerce.
The jurisdiction of enforcement should only pertain to transmissions which cross state lines, as such must be detectable across state lines for the commission to have jurisdiction over such transmissions.
All other enforcement actions are up to the states themselves under the powers given under the 10th amendment of the constitution.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."....
And thats how I would run the FCC. Just 2 more years of a Manchurian candidate and perhaps the backlash will finally bring about, some change.
RAND PAUL 2012!
