There is a bit of antiquated rules, but yeah most of them have their reasons. The whole point behind it amateur radio is to promote technology and communications, as well as provide an emergency backbone and fallback that the government doesn't have to fund, or really upkeep (since most of ham radio relies on self regulation and reporting).
Allowing encrypted comms would essentially destroy one of the primary tenets of amateur radio, inter-operability without massive coordination.
Now this doesn't mean you can't have security over the air. Just not really privacy. Nothing states you can't use modern crypto to generate signing keys and sign your message (not exactly feasible for voice, but digital yes) using asymmetric keys and common message authentication techniques.
There's some modern digital modes and messaging systems developing, but the lack of privacy and sometimes the nature of the common demographic within ham radio (non-pc savvy users, oddly) prevent the growth on new tech.
I know you said you understand the reasoning, but for those who don't...
On the surface, prohibiting encryption seems antiquated and annoying, but if it weren't there would be no way to enforce the other regulations, like prohibiting transmissions for commercial purposes, which I think most hams would agree is a good restriction.
That said, if you really wanted to you could encrypt data and hide it using steganography or stuff it in what you claim is an authentication signature or something. It would be illegal but entirely unenforceable.
I could see allowing encryption, at least for the higher class licenses (extra + general?), as long as you are still required to identify your callsign unencrypted.
I also think the restriction on commercial purposes could be loosely interpreted to allow loading webpages with ads or buying something on an ecommerce site, as long as the primary purpose of the transmissions aren't commercial. But again, that would be difficult to enforce if encryption were allowed.
As I see it, living in the past is the charm of amateur radio. When radio communication was still somewhat exotic, it was new and cool to, if you set everything up just right, be able to communicate over large distances. Now, it's _old_ and cool to be able to do it with those primitive means.
I got my callsign a few years ago but never use it because of this. I wanted to use it more, but it felt like it was not a conductive place to research without supervision.
That is incredible cool! When I was a teen in the 90s I was part of a 1200baud radio network using 27mc. It was pure anarchy. Yet we managed to setup such a distributed system that allowed people to send mails across Europe. My idealistic half dreamed a while of a modern version of that 27mc network, which appears to be exactly the OP: distributed and independent.
Cool, I didn't realize there were actually large scale HAMNETs in the wild. I assumed it was typically a toy thing people would occasionally setup at field days and such.
Are any licensed amateurs (or those interested in getting licensed) in San Francisc interested in trying to set up a mesh? I've got a node running (I think... I haven't checked on it in months...). I've never actually connected to another node...
This is pretty cool. I remember doing packet radio in the '80s with my dad on a Commodore C64 that he got for that reason. I've had my ham license for over 30 years now but haven't done anything with it for over 10 now. Maybe it's time to get back into it.
"It is using the international coordinated IP-address space of the AMPRNet (44.0.0.0/8) and AS numbers out of the 16-bit and 32-bit private AS number space to interconnect active regions by external BGP routing."
Yet another brand new project that completely ignores the existence of IPv6.
I don't think 44/8 has an IPv6 equivalent. Anyone who creates one would need to pay an annual registration fee to one of the RIRs, whereas 44/8 is free because it came directly from IANA in 1992.
Legally speaking, seems like every user & station would require a callsign, which would likely be a huge barrier to adoption, create massive privacy issues, etc.
Yes each station would require a call sign. At least in the US, all call signs are publicly discoverable and the records include the physical address of the station.
There is, by law, no form of privacy about where the station is located, nor any of the communications by amateur radio.
While they are using the HAM portion of the bands this is basically just wifi gear. Granted they are probably using more power than is legal for unlicensed users.
This describes a network infrastructure of amateur radio stations linked by microwaves. The slides describes the equipment required and the procedures required to join this network.
[+] [-] therealidiot|9 years ago|reply
It's a shame, because radio is really interesting, but a lot (yes, not all) of amateur stuff feels as though it's stuck in the past.
Before I get lectured, yes, I understand most of the reasoning. That doesn't mean I have to like it.
[+] [-] ajford|9 years ago|reply
Allowing encrypted comms would essentially destroy one of the primary tenets of amateur radio, inter-operability without massive coordination.
Now this doesn't mean you can't have security over the air. Just not really privacy. Nothing states you can't use modern crypto to generate signing keys and sign your message (not exactly feasible for voice, but digital yes) using asymmetric keys and common message authentication techniques.
There's some modern digital modes and messaging systems developing, but the lack of privacy and sometimes the nature of the common demographic within ham radio (non-pc savvy users, oddly) prevent the growth on new tech.
[+] [-] tlrobinson|9 years ago|reply
On the surface, prohibiting encryption seems antiquated and annoying, but if it weren't there would be no way to enforce the other regulations, like prohibiting transmissions for commercial purposes, which I think most hams would agree is a good restriction.
That said, if you really wanted to you could encrypt data and hide it using steganography or stuff it in what you claim is an authentication signature or something. It would be illegal but entirely unenforceable.
I could see allowing encryption, at least for the higher class licenses (extra + general?), as long as you are still required to identify your callsign unencrypted.
I also think the restriction on commercial purposes could be loosely interpreted to allow loading webpages with ads or buying something on an ecommerce site, as long as the primary purpose of the transmissions aren't commercial. But again, that would be difficult to enforce if encryption were allowed.
[+] [-] nxzero|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pingec|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Bromskloss|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kylehotchkiss|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] koryk|9 years ago|reply
Don't forget Amateur Radio Field Day is in 11 days!
[+] [-] fluxquanta|9 years ago|reply
Holy crap, already? I haven't been messing with radio stuff lately but man, it really does feel like field day 2015 was just yesterday.
[+] [-] rollulus|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tlrobinson|9 years ago|reply
Are any licensed amateurs (or those interested in getting licensed) in San Francisc interested in trying to set up a mesh? I've got a node running (I think... I haven't checked on it in months...). I've never actually connected to another node...
[+] [-] meatmanek|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sverige|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] threeio|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] api|9 years ago|reply
Yet another brand new project that completely ignores the existence of IPv6.
[+] [-] p1mrx|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nxzero|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wglb|9 years ago|reply
There is, by law, no form of privacy about where the station is located, nor any of the communications by amateur radio.
[+] [-] setra|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matiasfernandez|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wglb|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ape4|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daedalus_j|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrjudgejoebrown|9 years ago|reply
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