Home ? Sourcing News ? FCC goes after signal jammers, but ignores search engines advertising them
The Federal Communications Commission on Sept. 30 directed 20 small online retailers to cease marketing GPS, cellphone and Wi-Fi signal jammers or face fines of $16,000 a day. Nonetheless, the three major Internet search engine companies continue to sell and display keyword ads for the devices.
In its notice on illegal marketing of signal jamming devices, FCC made it clear that long-standing rules and regulations bar both the sale of jammers and advertising for them. Citing the Communications Act and relevant sections of the Code of Federal Regulations, the agency said such devices ?shall not be operated, advertised, displayed, offered for sale or lease, sold or leased, or otherwise marketed [emphasis included].?
Despite this prohibition, Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines all carry advertising for the devices. For example, a search for GPS jammers on Google Oct. 7 resulted in one keyword add for GPS signal blockers, one for a GPS jammer and one for a cellphone blocker. A search for GPS signal blockers resulted in four keyword ads for the devices and a search for GPS blockers on the Google shopping site returned 25 pages (some containing hits for unrelated products) with many pages also featuring keyword ads.
Search results were similar for Yahoo and Bing, each of which returned ads for hundreds of devices.
Spokeswoman Diana Adair said Google ?disallows ads for illegal signal jammers. We monitor and enforce our ad policies through a combination of both manual and automated processes. Ads that are found in violation of our policies will be removed.?
She said this was in keeping with Google?s advertising policy, which states, ?Google AdWords doesn?t allow the advertising of illegal products and services. All advertising, as well as the products and services being advertised, must clearly comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Whenever there?s a question of whether compliance is clear, Google may choose to err on the side of conservative interpretation and have additional restrictions. We aren?t interested in promoting products or services of questionable legality.?
But, Google let this policy lapse in regard to ads for signal jammers between April 2010 and October 2011, as the company provided a similar statement to Nextgov on April 7, 2010, in response to a query on why it carried ads for signal jammers.
FCC made it clear in its notice last week that signal jammers ? some of which sell for between $20 and $35 ? ?pose significant risks to public safety and potentially compromise other radio communications services.? For example, in November 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration reported that GPS jammers installed in vehicles traveling the New Jersey Turnpike adjacent to Newark Liberty International Airport were knocking out precision signals that manage landings there.
Bernie Skoch, a retired Air Force brigadier general with extensive communications experience and an amateur radio operator, said the search engines might be violating FCC prohibitions against advertising such devices.
The problems with the jammers extend beyond their intended function, Skoch said. ?These devices are generally poorly designed and poorly manufactured. They cause abundant collateral damage,? he said, and interfere with legitimate users of other services.
Skoch added, ?Google is offering space [to sellers of the devices], but they are not offering the devices, do not import them, do not sell them, etc. And if they are liable, what of the [Internet service provider] that puts the images on users? screens??
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FCC goes after signal jammers, but ignores search engines advertising them
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