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FCC means business when it comes to illegal cellphone jammers

17.10.2012
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issued a warning in three languages against cellphone jammers this week, and just in case that wasn't clear enough, it employed public shaming, too.

On Monday, the agency's Enforcement Bureau issued citations against six people who advertised jammers on Craigslist.org, then posted the citations on its website with the perpetrators' last names in the subject lines.

Though it's not that easy to find documents on the FCC's site, even after a recent redesign, the citations are there for the edification of the public, laying out the details of each violator's Craigslist posting and how the FCC's staff caught them. One of the citations even includes the perpetrator's cellphone number, which was included in his jammer ad.

The message is that it's illegal for an individual consumer to use a wireless jamming device, even in their own home. In the FCC's words: "Except for the very limited context of authorized, official use by the federal government, jamming devices have no legal use in the United States." Not surprisingly, it's also illegal to sell or advertise them. Violators are subject to fines of up to US$16,000 per case of marketing or using a jammer. The six latest citations only warned the perpetrators they would be fined if they continued using or selling the units, but the FCC warned them that in the future, "we intend to impose substantial monetary penalties, rather than (or in addition to) warnings, on individuals who operate a jammer."

The six citations were part of a broader crackdown the agency is carrying out through undercover operations, in which it finds jammers advertised online and contacts the potential sellers for more information. The FCC said it has targeted 23 ads for signal jammers on Craigslist in the past two weeks.

Jammers are illegal because they can block not just irritating one-sided conversations nearby but also 911 calls and emergency communications across a wide range of frequencies, including public safety bands, the FCC says. This week's crackdown is intended to send a message. "We are increasingly concerned that individual consumers who operate jamming devices do not appear to understand the potentially grave consequences of using a jammer," the FCC said in the citations.