[opendtv] Re: News: FCC Takes Flak Over Flag
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 13:02:21 -0700
I stand corrected. I should have said -- indeed, I thought I said -- that
they don't use this power very often, and seldom heavily. It has gotten
very much easier to get type approval of receivers and transmitters over the
year, including self certification of compliance with the rules replacing
FCC lab testing.
You provide one example (approved by the courts), CALEA is another, plus
Computer II's RJ-11 & 45 jacks, and lest we forget, adding 17 channels to CB
radios, but reducing the power output of future models. People who harbor
even the slimmest doubt that the FCC will prevail in court on these rules
should read the various court rulings in those matters. They have
essentially COMPLETE authority: but not to violate free speech rights (that
argument was used in the CB case; but the court wisely held that the
collective free speech rights of citizens in the citizens band overcame the
free speech rights of those who wanted 5 watt power output.
John Willkie
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of John Shutt
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:39 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: News: FCC Takes Flak Over Flag
John,
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
> You are wrong, but only to a point. The FCC has the authority to say what
> kind of receiver you can or cannot build. Period.
>
> However, they've never used it, and are unlikely to, since it will deter
> innovation.
The FCC most certainly has used their authority over what type of receiver a
manufacturer can sell in the United States. Try finding a scanner that is
able to receive the AMPS frequencies.
Note that the language below describing how a scanner can and cannot be
built is not terribly different from the Broadcast Flag rules that dictate
how a receiver must protect the decrypted data stream internally.
Here is an excerpt:
47CFR15.121:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfrhtml_00/Title_47/47cfr15_00.html
§ 15.121 Scanning receivers and frequency converters used with scanning
receivers.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, scanning receivers
and frequency converters designed or marketed for use with scanning
receivers, shall:
(1) Be incapable of operating (tuning), or readily being altered by the user
to operate, within the frequency bands allocated to the Cellular
Radiotelephone Service in part 22 of this chapter (cellular telephone
bands). Scanning receivers capable of "readily being altered by the user"
include, but are not limited to, those for which the ability to receive
transmissions in the cellular telephone bands can be added by clipping the
leads of, or installing, a simple component such as a diode, resistor or
jumper wire; replacing a plug-in semiconductor chip; or programming a
semiconductor chip using special access codes or an external device, such as
a personal computer. Scanning receivers, and frequency converters designed
for use with scanning receivers, also shall be incapable of converting
digital cellular communication transmissions to analog voice audio.
(2) Be designed so that the tuning, control and filtering circuitry is
inaccessible. The design must be such that any attempts to modify the
equipment to receive transmissions from the Cellular Radiotelephone Service
likely will render the receiver inoperable.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, scanning receivers
shall reject any signals from the Cellular Radiotelephone Service frequency
bands that are 38 dB or lower based upon a 12 dB SINAD measurement, which is
considered the threshold where a signal can be clearly discerned from any
interference that may be present.
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