[rpcope1]

That still seems to be the case. If you tune into some shortwave bands between 6 and 7 MHz where there never seems to be any commercial traffic, there's still regular pirate broadcasts inside of the US (I think it's a neat hobby for a lot of people -- I certainly like listening). I'm sure if really pressed the FCC would do something about it, but short of extreme abuse they don't seem to do much outside of occasional spurts of cracking down (unless you're operating in the FM bands, or otherwise impacting commercial or military comms).

Probably the quickest way to get the FCC hunting you down, now that I think about it, outside of irritating a commercial or mil operator, is to draw the ire of hams, some of whom, so far as I can tell, will go to the ends of the earth to stop you/ruin your day if you give them reason.