In 1789, our forefathers decided that they really didn’t want cops deciding for themselves when it was a good idea to break into your home and look under your bed for bad stuff, so they included an amendment to the Constitution requiring a warrant issued by a neutral magistrate. Since then, our courts have been crafting exceptions.
One of the most overlooked exceptions is the administrative search. This allows our homes, places of business, whatever, to be searched not for law enforcement purposes, but to make certain we are complying with the 10,000 regulations that the government has seen fit to impose upon our lives. I can’t be sure, but I believe that the FDA has a regulation prohibiting the use of more than 4 squares of toilet paper. How else can they make certain that we’re not violating the regs? They’re for our own good, you know.
Recently, a bar was searched by guys in bullet proof vests, with guns drawn, A full SWAT team came in the way SWAT teams typically do. The pretext? An alcohol inspection. You know, your basic SWAT team administrative search. The 5th Circuit didn’t bite, saying the raid was over the top.
But what happens when it falls short of a full blown SWAT team? That’s open to debate, which makes this announcement by the FCC one to take very seriously. From Ambrogi at Legal Blog Watch :
If you have a wireless router, a cellphone or a cordless phone in your office or home, the Federal Communications Commission says it has the right to walk right in without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.
That news comes via Wired’s Threat Level blog. It quotes FCC spokesman David Fiske, who says, “Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference.” That includes devices such as Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, he says.
The policy is spelled out here. And because the FCC is an agency of our government, they have kindly provided instructions on what to do when a government agents knocks on your door:
Q: The FCC Agent standing at my door does not have a search warrant, so I don’t have to let him in, right?
A: Wrong. Search warrants are needed for entry involving criminal matters. One of the requirements as a licensee, or non-licensee subject to the Commission’s Rules, is to allow inspection of your radio equipment by FCC personnel.
Some years back, cops would regularly enter automobile repair shops, regulated by dint of their licensing requirement, in order to search for stolen car parts. I bet it’s still happening in places on an “as needed” basis. The courts would acknowledge the government’s right to inspect auto repair shops, and ignore the fact that the sole purpose of these inspections was for a criminal investigation. Courts sometimes close their eyes to reality when it suits them. But then, these were businesses, with doors open to the public and enjoying the benefits of a license to engage in a particular trade. They weren’t someone’s home.
While the FCCs position, that its authority to regulate radio transmissions gives it the right to strut into every home in America with WiFi goes far beyond what’s permitted as an administrative search, the fact that the FCC has taken the position that it has such authority, placed instructions on its website to the effect that you can’t stop them from coming in, and, according to the Wired post,
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. “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 says.
I bet you didn’t know that your WiFi was permitted because the FCC loves you. And you’re expect to return that love by opening your door wide when the government comes a’calling. Unless the agents at your door are wearing vests that say “SWAT” on them and carrying automatic rifles, at which point you can ask them if they have a warrant.
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