By: Alan Ahn

In an article recently posted by CommLawBlog.com, it was reported that the FCC was searching the websites of broadcast stations in order to check for compliance with EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) rules. More specifically, the article states that FCC staffers were personally verifying that stations were posting their required annual EEO reports on their official sites, laboriously web-surfing until they were satisfied with their findings.

The FCC has historically demonstrated a penchant for Orwellian behavior, so the fact that it is engaging in such activities should not be surprising. However, the time and effort needed to go through the homepages of thousands of broadcast stations illustrate the costs (and perhaps also the wastefulness) of enforcing regulatory compliance.

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal of EEO reports is to promote equal employment practices. Does having an EEO report up on a website help companies abide by equal employment laws any better? It is also interesting to note that these reports do not need to be displayed prominently in order to fulfill the conditions of compliance, as the abovementioned article suggests.

The fact that FCC staffers go through the trouble of inspecting thousands of websites, of dubious value to the monitoring of discrimination against job applicants and employees, makes one wonder if FCC work hours could be better spent elsewhere.