FCC Reasserts Jurisdiction Over Airwaves

The agency’s Office of Engineering and Technology released a  three-page public notice Thursday “regarding radio interference matters and rules governing customer antennas and other unlicensed equipment.” The notice talks about an increase of complaints about the use of unlicensed devices in “multi tenant environments” but makes no reference to any specific instances that may have spurred its publication.
“[W]e reaffirm that, under the Communications Act, the FCC has exclusive authority to resolve matters involving radio frequency interference [RFI] when unlicensed devices are being used, regardless of venue….Both the FCC and the federal courts have overturned attempts by third parties to regulate RFI matters in light of the FCC’s exclusive authority in this area.”
Later on the FCC seems to hint that it is mostly talking about concerns involving the proliferation of wireless network devices, but a clever lawyer could probably read the entire thing broadly enough to construe it as a diss against Florida’s recent criminalization of pirate radio. Perhaps the vagueness in this release was intentional, so as to discourage the interpretation offered here.