Trump's FCC Boss Blasts Apple For Refusing To 'Turn On' FM iPhone Chipsets That Don't Actually Exist

from the yeah,-whoops dept

If you've seen current FCC Ajit Pai's name in print so far this year, it's probably for any number of his extremely anti-consumer, telecom industry friendly positions. Like his attempts to kill net neutrality, his support of gutting consumer broadband privacy protections, his efforts to protect the cable industry's cable box monopoly from competition, efforts to dramatically reduce media consolidation rules, his defense of prison phone monopoly price gouging, or the way he's making it harder for Americans to get affordable broadband.

To obfuscate this arguably-lopsided agenda, Pai has been busy trying to portray himself as somebody notably other than the revolving door regulator he actually is.

For example, Pai has repeatedly insisted that he's a heroic advocate for closing the digital divide, even while simultaneously weakening broadband deployment standards and eroding all oversight of historically-despised mono/duopolists like Comcast. Similarly, Pai spent many of his first months in office insisting he'd be breathlessly dedicated to transparency, yet the FCC boss has already been sued for refusing to document his communications with incumbent ISPs regarding net neutrality, or to provide hard data on why his agency appears to have hallucinated a DDoS attack.

Last week, Pai trotted out yet another effort to try and portray himself as an unwavering ally to consumers. In a missive posted to the FCC website (pdf), Pai lambasted Apple for refusing to turn on the FM radio chipsets embedded in iPhones, something he was quick to proclaim was a major affront to the safety and security of the nation's wireless subscribers:

"Apple is the one major phone manufacturer that has resisted doing so. But I hope the company will reconsider its position, given the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. That’s why I am asking Apple to activate the FM chips that are in its iPhones. It is time for Apple to step up to the plate and put the safety of the American people first. As the Sun Sentinel of South Florida put it, ‘Do the right thing, Mr. Cook. Flip the switch. Lives depend on it.’”

And while that may look like Pai was busy trying to do a good thing, Apple was forced to issue a public statement pointing out that the chipsets Pai wants turned on -- don't actually exist:

"Apple cares deeply about the safety of our users, especially during times of crisis and that’s why we have engineered modern safety solutions into our products. Users can dial emergency services and access Medical ID card information directly from the Lock Screen, and we enable government emergency notifications, ranging from Weather Advisories to AMBER alerts. iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models do not have FM radio chips in them nor do they have antennas designed to support FM signals, so it is not possible to enable FM reception in these products."

And while some older iPhone models do have such chipsets, they don't have the embedded antennas necessary to effectively utilize them. In many instances, the FM functionality is just part of an overall "system on a chip" (SOC) that technically contains the functionality, but isn't actually capable of being turned on. Pai appears to have drawn his information from this similarly incorrect Florida news report, something ten minutes of research could have clarified. From some additional commentary from Apple evangelist John Gruber:

"I’ve dug around, and what I’ve been told is that there is an FM radio chip in older iPhones, but it’s not connected, and there’s no antenna designed for FM radio. The chip is just part of a commodity component part, and Apple only connected the parts of the chip that the iPhones were designed to use. No iPhone was ever designed to be an FM radio, and there is no “switch” that can be “flipped” — nor software update that could be issued — that could turn them into one. It’s a complete technical misconception.

What’s absurd is that the FCC commissioner would take his understanding of the iPhone’s technical capabilities from a newspaper editorial rather than from Apple’s own FCC regulatory filings, which I’m pretty sure would show that they’re not capable of acting as FM radios.

If that's the level of Pai's fact-checking before accusing Apple of harming the safety of the "American people," it leaves you wondering just how much homework Pai has done before deciding to "take a weedwhacker" (his words) to essential consumer protections on the telecom front.

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Filed Under: ajit pai, fcc, fm radios, iphones
Companies: apple


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  1. icon
    K`Tetch (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 1:38pm

    Paper got it from Pai

    "Pai appears to have drawn his information from this similarly incorrect Florida news report, something ten minutes of research could have clarified."

    However, the paper has it the other way around, from pai

    "In February, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urged mobile phone companies to activate the FM radio chip in smartphones, but said the FCC doesn’t have the authority to require it, the Washington Post reported."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 1:40pm

    >there’s no antenna designed for FM radio

    Earphones are commonly used for this purpose.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 1:49pm

    Re:

    Yup. My Nokia 635 used earphones as the FM antenna.

    I still listen to FM radio on my new iPhone, but it streams from my Wi-Fi connected Uniden scanner.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 1:54pm

    Re:

    That would require a 3.5mm jack.

    Courage.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    limbodog (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 1:57pm

    He has the easiest job in the world

    Pai has got to have such an easy job. He is handed his marching orders: obey the cable companies, ignore everyone else. And yet he keeps messing up. How incompetent a saboteur do you have to be to mess up something that easy? He's like a cartoon bad guy - Gargamel without the cat to save him from himself.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 2:06pm

    Backwards compatibility. When do you keep it and when do you give it up. It doesn't surprise me that Apple doesn't support radio. Apple is always jumping on the latest and greatest technology for their devices. It is a constant battle of what to keep and what to toss to improved, shrink, and reduce power. Personally I am all for jumping to the latest tech standard but understand why you would want old reliable.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 2:09pm

    Wow. I guess this kind of thing is so blatant nowadays that Americans don't really care to question how competent he is?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    PlagueSD (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 2:21pm

    You mean there's something else an Android phone can do that a iPhone can't???

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    David, 3 Oct 2017 @ 2:30pm

    Re: He has the easiest job in the world

    [Pai]'s like a cartoon bad guy - Gargamel without the cat to save him from himself.

    No guaranteed smurfing speeds while he is at the helm.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 2:59pm

    What he is doing with the other hand

    My question is whether Pai is doing this for 'safety' reasons, or is he just supporting another legacy FCC property (aka terrestrial radio)? Oh, likely that appropriate tithes have been processed.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 3:27pm

    Re: What he is doing with the other hand

    Honestly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if his motivation here was simply to score a cheap 'win' to get some easy PR.

    It's just a pity for him that his 'Look at me, standing up to the big Apple and making myself out to be the good guy for imploring them to do something that would benefit the public' was turned into 'Look at me, lambasting a company for not doing something that's not possible with current hardware, something I would have known if I'd done any research.'

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    Madd the Sane (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 3:44pm

    Re:

    You're talking about changing hardware on a shipped product.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 3:51pm

    Re: Re: What he is doing with the other hand

    "Honestly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if his motivation here was simply to score a cheap 'win' to get some easy PR."

    I think this is always a given with any politician.

    "Honestly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if his motivation here was simply to score a cheap 'win' to get some easy PR."

    Well... it works. Politicians blow smoke up everyone's asses all the damn time.

    the problem here is that Ajit was not able to fool you guys as well as Wheeler was able to. I know how to make a bunch of people support me by making empty promises and looking good while doing nothing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Ryunosuke (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 4:38pm

    Dear Ajit Pai....

    Nerd Harder


    Sincerely,
    Everyone NOT Amish.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 5:01pm

    Re: Re:

    Those damn pussies! "OMG, a hurricane!"
    Grow a spine and stand there against the winds, FM radio in hand, like a real man!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    Bergman (profile), 3 Oct 2017 @ 5:42pm

    Re: Re:

    A sufficiently long lightning cable could theoretically do the same thing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 5:59pm

    you know how children sometimes act out/misbehave because they are attention starved?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 6:00pm

    Re: Dear Ajit Pai....

    We been spending most our lives
    Living in an Amish paradise
    I've churned butter once or twice
    Living in an Amish paradise
    It's hard work and sacrifice
    Living in an Amish paradise
    We sell quilts at discount price
    Living in an Amish paradise

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 6:11pm

    Re:

    Earphones are commonly used for this purpose.

    Only when the earphone jack circuitry on the device has been so designed for that purpose.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 6:14pm

    Re:

    Wow. I guess this kind of thing is so blatant nowadays that Americans don't really care to question how competent he is?

    The more incompetent he is the better the Trumptards like him. They hate science.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 7:40pm

    This sounds like preemptive scolding for one of Pai's "sponsors". Perhaps a Bill is on the table for said sponsor to have their IP locked FM chips mandatory in all handsets.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 7:45pm

    Re: Re: Dear Ajit Pai....

    But we probably think Pai bites
    Living in an Amish paradise

    Ah, ah ah ah ahhhhh, ah.
    Ah ah
    Ah, ah ah ah ahhhhh... blech!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 7:57pm

    Re: Re: Re: What he is doing with the other hand

    @@

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 7:58pm

    Re: Re:

    Only when the earphone jack circuitry on the device has been so designed for that purpose.

    How much of online streaming radio might not have been subscribed to, had cell phones had that capability built in?

    And to play devil's advocate, "FM bands for which countries?"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Oct 2017 @ 10:06pm

    Re: Re: Re: What he is doing with the other hand

    And you prove it every time you bitch about people magically liking or not liking regulation, claiming that all the solutions are super-duper obvious then refusing to cite any of them. Must be nice to be surrounded by a bunch of supportive yes-men who give you permission to classify insulting others as a career...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2017 @ 12:29am

    You need one more link in the first paragraph. Self-cites are an ego thing, right?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. icon
    Ninja (profile), 4 Oct 2017 @ 4:10am

    "it leaves you wondering just how much homework Pai has done before deciding to "take a weedwhacker" (his words) to essential consumer protections on the telecom front. "

    I'll describe the process:

    *Pai looks at the pile of mone3y offered by ISPs*
    Pai: Time to take a weedhacker at those 'burdensome regulations'.
    ISPs: *excited, orgasmic clapping*

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2017 @ 4:43am

    (Mis)Using a natural disaster to further his own political agenda - this guy seriously can't sink any lower! (but I bet he will)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2017 @ 5:02am

    Homework?

    "...it leaves you wondering just how much homework Pai has done..."

    No; no, it doesn't.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. identicon
    Capt ICE Enforcer, 4 Oct 2017 @ 5:18am

    FCC Regulatory Filing

    If Apple's filing information is anything like their term of service or privacy stripping information. It would require a team of lawyers 20 years to understand it. Both the reporter and Pai tried.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. identicon
    Comboman, 4 Oct 2017 @ 7:20am

    Re: Re: Re:

    88-108MHz covers most of the world. Japan uses 76-95MHz. The software could easily lock/unlock certain channels based on location (as happens now for WiFi).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2017 @ 8:58am

    Re:

    Which is why you buy a cheap Emergency Radio!! Something with a hand crank so that it'll always work even if you don't have battery's. You would drain the battery from your cell phone pretty fast if using it as a FM radio when the power could be out for days and you killed your iPhone after the first day and then what? No FM radio.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. icon
    jupiterkansas (profile), 4 Oct 2017 @ 9:46am

    Re: Re:

    They hate competence.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. icon
    fairuse (profile), 4 Oct 2017 @ 10:18am

    FCC Suits Have a Staff to Prevent Foot-In-Mouth

    I bet happy hour was a hoot. I was hopping the pdf had AM written in.

    Sometimes suits should sit back and ponder the spider outside the 13th floor window.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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