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Federal Agency Says It Can Search Your Home Without
A Warrant
If you have an unlicensed Wi-Fi router, the Fourth Amendment
no longer applies
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The Federal Communications Commission has confirmed that its
own guidelines claim the right to enter and search your home
without a warrant at any time of the day or night.
If you have devices in your home that function
using radio frequency energy, such as a Wi-Fi router or a cordless
telephone, the FCC claims it can inspect them if it suspects
they are being operated on an unlicensed spectrum.
“Anything using RF energy — we have
the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,”
FCC spokesman David Fiske has told Wired
magazine.
The rules stem from the Communications Act of
1934, and have been used in the past to crack down on pirate
radio broadcasters. However, critics contend that because almost
every house in America now has devices that use radio waves,
the guidelines should be altered.
“The rules came to attention this month
when an FCC agent investigating a pirate radio station in Boulder,
Colorado, left a copy of a 2005
FCC inspection policy on the door of a residence
hosting the unlicensed 100-watt transmitter,” Wired’s
Ryan Singer writes.
“Whether you operate an amateur station
or any other radio device, your authorization from the Commission
comes with the obligation to allow inspection,” the statement
said.
The warrantless search policy could be applied
to a number of devices including remote car-door openers, baby
monitors or even cell phones.
(Article continues below)
“It is a major stretch beyond case law to
assert that authority with respect to a private home, which
is at the heart of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against
unreasonable search and seizure,” Electronic Frontier
Foundation lawyer Lee Tien commented.
“When it is a private home and when you
are talking about an over-powered Wi-Fi antenna — the
idea they could just go in is honestly quite bizarre.”
The constitutionality of the FCC's rules remain
untested in court, and some believe the FCC's interpretation
of the Communications Act is skewed.
As Raw Story's John Byrne points
out, Rogue Radio Research, a company that promotes
unlicensed broadcasters, says
on its website that agents of the FCC don’t
have the right to search homes.
“If FCC agents knock on my door and say they want to
talk with me, do I have to answer their questions?” the
site asks rhetorically on its Frequent Asked Questions page.
“No,” they say. “You have a right to say
that you want a lawyer present when and if you speak with them,
and that if they will give you their names, you will be back
in touch with them. Unless you have been licensed to broadcast,
the FCC has no right to ‘inspect’ your home.
“If they say they have a right to enter my house without
a warrant to see if I have broadcasting equipment, do I have
to let them in?” they continue.
“No,” the site replies. “Under Section 303(n)
of Title 47 U.S.C., the FCC has a right to inspect any transmitting
devices that must be licensed under the Act. Nonetheless, they
must have permission to enter your home, or some other basis
for entering beyond their mere supervisorial powers. With proper
notice, they do have a right to inspect your communications
devices. If they have given you notice of a pending investigation,
contact a lawyer immediately.”
However, these facts pale into insignificance somewhat when
you factor in the little matter of the United States government
having become fundamentally and criminally corrupt.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered details
pertaining to a secret Justice Department memo from October
2001 that revealed the Bush administration effectively
suspended the Fourth Amendment after 9/11.
As we commented back in March, the Obama
administration has not deviated from the precedent
set by the previous administration.
This underscores the fact that the U.S. now has
a government willing to completely disregard the Bill of Rights
and the Constitution.
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