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FCC Considering Proposal For Encrypted Ham Radio

Posted by timothy on from the technocrat-perspective dept.

Bruce Perens writes "FCC is currently processing a request for rule-making, RM-11699 (PDF), that would allow the use of Amateur frequencies in the U.S. for private, digitally-encrypted messages. Encryption is a potential disaster for ham radio because it defeats its self-policing nature. If hams can't decode messages, they can't identify if the communication even belongs on ham radio. A potentially worse problem is that encryption destroys the harmless nature of Amateur radio.There's no reason for governments to believe that encrypted communications are harmless. See hams.com/encryption/ for more information."

2 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Re:packet radio? by rotaryexpress · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it is illegal to send encrypted content via packet. That makes any kind of web browsing pretty much impossible (Google, for example, does https for everything now...and I wouldn't want my plain-text passwords going all over the place).

  2. It's dead either way, why not try this? by Myself · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whenever I try to convert part-15 geeks into part-97 geeks, they're interested in high power, they're interested in DIY equipment, they're interested in satellites, they're interested in propagation, and as soon as I mention that you can't swear or encrypt, they walk away.

    "If I can't send useful traffic over it, why would I bother?"

    Ham radio is losing a generation of geeks who've grown up on a more-free network and aren't interested in a restricted one. Should we just let them go?