Consider a New Way to Combat Pirate Radio Stations

Everyone should agree that pirate radio stations -- by any definition -- are completely illegal. Given other responsibilities and obligations, however, the Federal Communications Commission’s resources are stretched, and it seems that stopping pirate radio is not at the top of the priority list. While this reality is not surprising, we need to consider other ways to remove the scourge that is pirate radio. One approach would be to give broadcasters a new right to use the legal process to go after such stations, letting loose broadcasters’ legal bloodhounds to root out the violators. This isn’t a new idea as it has been done in other circumstances outside of spectrum policy, such as to combat e-mail spam, and we should consider it here, too.