rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) (10/09/84)
senator barry goldwater, k7uga, introduced legislation into
congress on september 11, 1984, that will make it a federal
offense to willfully and malciously interfere with radio
communicaions. the bill prohibits jamming by any person and
authorizes the fcc to prevent continued interference while
proceeding against the perprerator. senate bill 2975 also
clarifies and reaffirms existing law.
goldwater, in addressing the senate, said "recently the federal
communications commission has noted a significant increase in
the number of complaints concerning willful or malicious
interference to radio signals. i have personally listened to
some of this malicious interference. just one individual can
prevent effective communications by many other persons wishing
to use a channel.
"there is only a limited amount of radio spectrum available, so
we must ensure it is wisely used in the public interest.
unfortunately this errant behavior is increasingly preventing
such use in a number of different services." goldwater said
such objectional interference is created by intentionally
transmitting on a channel already in use or by "whistles,
tapes, records or other types of obnoxious noises...
transmitted for the sole purpose of interrupting or preventing
other uses of the frequency."
while noting that this type of interference is prevalent on the
amateur, citizens, and marine band, goldwater said that it is
also creeping into the private land mobile, public safety...
(and even the) government communications networks such as those
of the faa and department of defense.
"the increase in willful interference to authorized
communications simply must be stopped in order to ensure the
reliability of the authorized public interest and safety uses
of the radio spectrum."
"the purposes of this bill are to clarify that such activities
are absolutely prohibited, to provide mechanisms by which such
interference can be stopped in a timely fashion and to
authorize significant penalities for such behavior. if this
proves insufficient, i am prepared to introduce even tougher
legislation to further increase the penalties for violation and
include, for example, mandatory disqualification of those
convicted from being licensees in the future." goldwater said
he hoped that this would not be necessary.
at this point, goldwater referred to several amateur radio
cases of willful and malicious interference including:
- transmission of unmodulated carriers, recorded
material music and threats, made directly over the ongoing
transmissions of other operators (harold r. claypoole, n6bii,
1983)
- long, continuous transmission of computer voice
synthesized audio signal or ticking clock on repeater input
frequency (henry c. armsrong, wa6cgi, 1983).
- initiation of transmissions when others were already
using the frequency, including changes in frequency which
coincided with changes made by parties attempting to evade the
interference (kenneth l. gilbert, kb6tg, 1982)
- whistling on frequency for a long period of time for
jamming purposes (donald e. miller, callsign unknown, 1978)
these cases illustrate examples of the type of purposeful
interference which this bill prohibits." goldwater said that he
didn't intend to limit the definition of the bill's terms to
these activities "but rather to explain the type of behavior to
which the bill is addressed."
interference to home electronic entertainment equipment was not
addressed in the bill. goldwater said he recognized that some
interference is suffered by stereo amplifiers, television sets
and telephones when they are operating near an operaing radio
transmitter. he cautioned that he did not want s.2975's
provisions to be construed as applying to interference caused
by susceptibility of equipment to rf energy. "more often than
not the problem is caused by the improper design of equipment
experiencing he interference," goldwater said.
s.2975 will elevate willful and malicious interference to a
criminal offense pursuant to section 501 of the communications
act. this section provides for both a fine of up to $10,000 and
imprisonment of up to 1 year for a first offense and the same
fine and up to 2 years imprisonment for repeated offenses.
(from gateway)