The main problem with this line of reasoning is that it neglects important parts defined elsewhere making it seem like this is legal when its not. IANAL, but I do hang out with a lot of hammies. You can't help but absorb a lot of technical stuff with them around.
It need not saturate the bands, you technically are in violation the moment a non-licensed entity has caused interference to a licensed entity.
Willful is a pretty low bar since general intent can be derived from any related negligent acts. Its pretty safe to say transmitting on these bands without a license is illegal, and yes its a fairly big deal.
Most of the public radio spectrum has been monitored, and archived for later retrieval if circumstances dictate since the 60s. There are services that aggregate this data and make realtime info available globally from satellite systems. Trilateration of signals is fairly trivial in most cases.
You may not get caught if you always stay below the noise floor, but you can't really have any real use of the spectrum in doing so, and algorithmic scanning of structured signals is always improving.
It is really negligent to make it seem like these things are legal, when they aren't, and the author should get in trouble for that.
A simple disclaimer isn't going to cut it when then primary purpose is effectively breaking the law in many civilized nations.
For what it's worth (which isn't much), all of that hinges upon the FCC's motivation and capacity to enforce its rules.
If amateur and citizens band radio shenanigans over the last few decades have proved anything, it's that you have to be an absolutely massive pain in the radio-wave-receiving public's ass to really get their attention.
If you had this device on 14.300, 7.200, or channel 6? Meh. No one's gonna care.
In my town there was a guy who was absolutely obliterating 88.5 as well as 88.3 and 88.9 broadcasting some Hispanic hip-hop with some grossly overpowered local transmitter. He overpowered the stations on the entire east side of town. It took over 6 months before it was shut down. I think the FCC penalties are so harsh because their enforcement arm is so small that they can only go after the most blatant offenders. Not that I would want to risk fate given how harsh those penalties are.
I hold a ham radio licence in a couple of countries, although what's happening here is far outside of the remit of ham operations.
I'm pretty certain this is not legal in my locale, but I don't think the author of the article is making this out to be legal - and I don't think they should get in trouble for any of this publishing [assuming you're adressing them, not the commenter]. Perhaps the equivalent of a script kiddy could get up to no good with it, nothing new from the last 20 years of computer hacking then.
I'd far rather see enforcement and ire directed at the proliferation of poorly shielded junk that spews noise all over the spectrum, at surprisingly high power, that seems to have no trouble being sold online or imported for sale in many countries - and is often, strictly speaking, not legal with regards to necessary EMC, and probably safety, standards.
... reminds me of the times I've taken my HT to Southern Cal and heard things on the radio (in the ham band and elsewhere) that I haven't heard any place else, like the ham who would hold court on the repeater with background music.
Eh, if they're so low power that they're not stepping on their neighbor's reception I'd personally say it's fine. Tree falling in the woods situation and all. That definitely varies based on where one is playing around with such things, and it's always important to understand how far your transmissions are actually going (which can be surprising if you don't have much experience with it!).
Someone in a shed on a few acres playing around with an SDR? Go ahead, I don't care. Playing around in an amateur anechoic chamber, have fun if you're sure you're containing things. On a desk in a random apartment in Manhattan? What an asshole, call the FCC.
Is it potentially against the law to do this? Yeah, probably. How bad is it? Somewhere around jaywalking on an absolutely empty street and dumping waste in a park, greatly depending on multiple factors.
Like for example, https://www.fcc.gov/enforcement/areas/jammers
It need not saturate the bands, you technically are in violation the moment a non-licensed entity has caused interference to a licensed entity.
Willful is a pretty low bar since general intent can be derived from any related negligent acts. Its pretty safe to say transmitting on these bands without a license is illegal, and yes its a fairly big deal.
Most of the public radio spectrum has been monitored, and archived for later retrieval if circumstances dictate since the 60s. There are services that aggregate this data and make realtime info available globally from satellite systems. Trilateration of signals is fairly trivial in most cases.
You may not get caught if you always stay below the noise floor, but you can't really have any real use of the spectrum in doing so, and algorithmic scanning of structured signals is always improving.
It is really negligent to make it seem like these things are legal, when they aren't, and the author should get in trouble for that.
A simple disclaimer isn't going to cut it when then primary purpose is effectively breaking the law in many civilized nations.