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Comment by Gormo | Hacker News Reader

What statute gives authority to the FCC to "make up rules for marketplaces"? My understanding is that they only have authority over actual broadcasting.

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the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 USC 154 1601 ff) is one place, among others, that Congress gave the FCC the authority to make rules about importing and selling electronics

I looked up the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-116publ124/pdf/PLAW...), and it appears to be the act under which products from certain manufacturers were excluded from being purchased with federal funds. It seems to make no mention of either regulating domestic marketplaces or giving any powers to the FCC. Are you sure you're citing the correct statute?

yeah the 2019 act begin this odyssey, and the authority to regulate electronics imports is 47 USC 302 when Congress gave up their power to write down specific laws about electronics to appointed bureaucrats at the FCC back in 1934.

No, it doesn't appear that the 2019 act you referenced, nor the 1934 Communications Act, specifically relates to this.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/302a

(b) Restrictions

No person shall manufacture, import, sell, offer for sale, or ship devices or home electronic equipment and systems, or use devices, which fail to comply with regulations promulgated pursuant to this section.

Yes, another person in the thread found that already. The provisions in 302a don't originate from either of the statutes you cited, but rather from Public Law 90-379, enacted by Congress in 1968: see https://www.congress.gov/bill/90th-congress/house-bill/14910....

It sounds like it will be up to the courts in this case to determine if these specific FCC regulations are actually made pursuant to the purpose of that section, and whether operating a marketplace within which others are offering radio equipment for sale can be interpreted as you yourself offering that equipment for sale.

I cited 47 usc 302 in the grandparent, to which you responded “no” ( i was in error about it coming from 1934, which I acknowledged in a child comment)

The 2021 and 2019 laws are relevant because the FCC said they expanded the FCC “authorization power” in 47 usc 302a to include covered entities and national security threats, not just regulation over electromagnetic compatibility issues

>Such regulations shall be applicable to the manufacture, import, sale, *offer for sale*, or shipment of such devices and home electronic equipment and systems, and to the use of such devices.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/302a

I appreciate the reference to an actual, applicable statute. Based on that, it sounds like whether eBay acting as a marketplace is actually the party offering equipment for sale, rather than merely providing a venue for others to offer it for sale, is something that would have to be figured out by the courts, as would the question of whether the specific regulations the FCC is enforcing actually are pursuant to that section.

from the article

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adopts-rules-strengthen-rul...

If you believe the FCC or Congress misapplied the interstate commerce authority in the constitution or prior case law, then you can take this up in Federal Court after you synthesize standing by trying to list a radio for sell on ebay

this SCOTUS has expressed interest in reverting the interstate commerce authority to its pre-New Deal interpretations, which would disintegrate the administrative state of the last 100 years, so they’re just waiting for a case, if you’d like to see what small government looks like again

> If you believe the FCC or Congress misapplied the interstate commerce authority in the constitution or prior case law

I'm looking for the specific statute in which Congress exercised its interstate commerce authority to actually assign this power to the FCC.

> this SCOTUS has expressed interest in reverting the interstate commerce authority to its pre-New Deal interpretations, which would disintegrate the administrative state of the last 100 years

The the post-New-Deal interpretation of the interstate commerce authority still relies on understanding that the power to regulate interstate commerce belongs to Congress, such that administrative agencies only have those powers specifically granted to them by statute.

So regardless of this, the FCC still doesn't have direct interstate commerce authority under the constitution, and can only exercise such regulatory authority as has been assigned to them by by Congress.

Whether or not those statutes will continue to be recognized by the courts as a legitimate exercise of commerce clause powers is another matter entirely.

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