The WiFi frequencies are unlicensed in afaik every jurisdiction (note that the precise frequencies aren’t de jure the same in every country) so it’s legal to send whatever packets you like within certain power constraints.
>No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter or operated by the United States Government.
That law seems to explicitly apply to transmissions on FCC licensed spectrum, where FCC authorizes operations and ensures that you don't get interference. Wifi happens on unlicensed spectrum, wifi is not "radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter".
Unlicensed spectrum is, as I understand it, spectrum whose use without a license is authorized (but, obviously, not licensed) by that chapter, and so is within the scope of the “authorized or licensed” language; certainly, the FCC has been consistently treated it as within the scope of that rule and hasn't been successfully challenged on it in the courts where, if it wasn't authorized or licensed by the chapter at issue, it would be an easy slam-dunk case against any FCC enforcement action treating it as such.
I really disagree with that ruling and interpretation of that quoted part of the law. Jamming to me means radio interference via indiscriminate analog noise. If we expand the definition of jamming to the protocol level like exemplified here, the law gains broad authority to interpret any online interaction that makes your experience worse as "jamming." The law should really should stick to radio frequency enforcement, and stay out of protocol-level concerns - it's just too big a can of worms.
That's because you are ignorant of radio frequency technology, circa 1940. The only reason a shared frequency band like 2.4 GHz works at all is because we have invented technology that can implicitly synchronize with other senders through avoiding collisions with ongoing transmissions, e.g. through CSMA/CA. Obviously a band like 2.4 GHz will simply not work if devices were allowed to transmit permanently like an analog radio. And so out of simple necessity the regulation for shared bands has very broad language to the effect that you can not interfere in any way with others operating on the same band.
>Jamming to me means radio interference via indiscriminate analog noise
So according to you, denying everyone usage is worse than denying everyone else usage to improve your usage?
>If we expand the definition of jamming to the protocol level like exemplified here, the law gains broad authority to interpret any online interaction that makes your experience worse as "jamming." The law should really should stick to radio frequency enforcement, and stay out of protocol-level concerns - it's just too big a can of worms.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the legal system works. It's not an algorithm. Intent matters. Going back to the originally quoted text, it says "willfully or maliciously", so maxing out your WLAN to transfer files 24/7 is probably not going to get a knock on the door by the FCC. Intentionally jamming your neighbor's wifi (deauth packets or otherwise) is.
The law does not prohibit “jamming”; it prohibits “willfully or maliciously interfere with...radio communications of any station...authorized by or under this chapter”.
If you’re objecting to the phrasing in the boingboing article (which called it “jamming”), ok, but the law seems clear to me and the interpretation thereof I think was correct.
I just want to comment that this is who HN is great.
I posted what turned out to be a misunderstanding (or incomplete if you are more generous) understanding of spectrum rules. My comment was correctly downvoted to 0, but more importantly I got a response that simply explained where I was (utterly) wrong. No flames, no further conjecture, just references. There's a little bit of following discussion.
Is there any such law against this or any efforts in introducing such laws, either in Norway or elsewhere?