<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Bruce,</div><div><br></div>I have a great deal of respect for you and your work, but I do not agree with this article.<div><br></div><div>The illegality of encryption is the <i>single thing</i> keeping a lot of networking nerds off the air and out of the hobby, and the idea of disclosing encryption keys to a loosely-defined 'governing body' completely circumvents the reason to have encryption in the first place. Security by obscurity is not security.<br><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Everything in this article is based on fact, but the basic premise is one from <i>before the global internet</i>. If amateur radio is to survive at all, there needs to be some compromises made. Allowing unbridled encryption would be a very good start.</div><div apple-content-edited="true">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Cheers,</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">- Drew.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">--</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Drew Smith (mux) <<a href="mailto:drew@riotnrrd.com">drew@riotnrrd.com</a>>, VA7DSX / VE0TF<br>Encrypted e-mail preferred, public key at <a href="http://riotnrrd.com/pubkey.gpg">http://riotnrrd.com/pubkey.gpg</a><br></div>
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<br><div><div>On 2013-06-25, at 8:49 PM, Bruce Perens <<a href="mailto:bruce@perens.com">bruce@perens.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">
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<h1>EMERGENCY ‐ AMATEUR RADIO NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW!</h1><p>Please forward this message to other hams. The most current
version of this message is at <a href="http://hams.com/encryption/">http://hams.com/encryption/</a>
Please use that version.</p><p>FCC is currently processing a request for rule-making, <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022424684">RM-11699</a>,
that would allow the use of Amateur frequencies in the U.S. for
private, digitally-encrypted messages.</p><p>Encryption is a potential disaster for us because it defeats the
self-policing nature of ham radio. If hams can't decode messages,
we can't identify if the communication is appropriate for ham
radio or not. A potentially worse problem is that encryption
destroys the <i>harmless nature</i> of Amateur radio. For
governments around the world to continue to allow Amateur Radio, <i>it
must be percieved as harmless.</i> There's no reason for anyone
to believe that encrypted communications are harmless. Foreign
governments, and maybe even our own, will start to see hams as
more of a threat. This is likely to have a chilling effect upon
DXpeditions, which are already often viewed suspiciously by the
host nations, and perhaps will even lead some countries to take
Amateur Radio off of the air or limit our privileges in some way.</p><p>The last day for you to submit a comment opposing this is JULY 8,
so it's important for you to act now! Please make a short comment
in opposition to the proposal at <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/begin?procName=RM-11699">this
link</a>, or use <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/?procName=RM-11699">this
link</a> to upload longer documents.</p><p>We have no way of telling if the content of encrypted messages
are appropriate for ham radio. While their senders will identify
them as emergency communications drills, they could be used for
crime, operating a business, downloading pornography, etc.
WiFi-like cards are already available for Amateur frequencies, and
while hams can build legitimate networks with them, none of their
vendors check for a license before selling them to anyone.
Legalizing encryption on the air will make abuse of Amateur
frequencies provable only after difficult and potentially illegal
code-breaking.</p><p>A small group has almost succeeded in sneaking this change past
the entire ham community. As I write this, they are almost
unopposed, with only one <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment_search/execute?proceeding=RM-11699">
comment</a> against their proposal submitted to FCC. We only
have less than two weeks to turn that around!</p><p>Unfortunately, ARRL isn't helping. On March 9, the ARRL board of
directors moved to explore whether they should ask for
rule-changes authorizing encryption, see their <a href="http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Board%20Meetings/ecmin498.pdf">
meeting minutes</a> at paragraph 4.1.3. Before ARRL was
scheduled to consider a report on the issue, an individual ham
filed a request for rule-making with FCC. ARRL obviously tracks
FCC rule-making and the notices of it in the Federal Register, and
yet waited until two weeks before the end of the commenting period
to announce on their web site that this was going on.</p><p>What could be a plausible excuse for using encryption on the
Amateur bands? It's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA">HIPAA</a>,
a 1996 law that requires that doctors, hospitals and other medical
services providers keep patient data secret. And thus, hospitals
have become reluctant to use ham communications in emergencies. We
effectively broadcast all of the information we communicate, and
they're afraid that we'll get them sued by doing so.</p><p>Emergency communications are a critical component of the mission
of Amateur Radio, and are one of only four purposes that FCC uses
to justify the existence of the Amateur Service. It may be that
encryption does become critical to support Amateur emergency
services. But that time has not yet come. If we are to allow
encryption on the air, that should come only after the entire ham
community has discussed it throughly and explored all of the
options. And yet, nobody's brought this issue before you, before
attempting to change the rules behind your back.</p><p>The folks who support the encryption proposal are, as far as I
can tell, well-meaning. Many of them are involved in emergency
communications. But their methods are inappropriate. If they want
this change, they must discuss the issue throughly at ham
conferences and in our publications. They must allow hams to
become educated about the alternatives before we decide as a
community if a rule change is necessary.</p><p>What are the alternatives? One is changing HIPAA to remove
liability from the doctors and hospitals for disclosure of
information in an amateur emergency transmission. Changing laws is
not impossible for Amateurs. Through lobbying congress, we have
recently been able to cause changes in ITAR 121, a Department of
Defense restriction that made it difficult for us to collaborate
with other nations in building microsats. That's changing now as a
result of lobbying by ham organizations. If hams can get that
done, we can reform HIPAA as well.</p><p>Another alternative is to leave the rules as they are today. Many
emergency organizations have been able to operate without
encryption despite any reservations by the served organizations
regarding HIPAA, which has existed since 1996. And many services
other than Amateur Radio, including MARS, Land Mobile, and Part 15
can provide encryption without a rule-change, and might be more
appropriate venues for this traffic.</p><p>If we end up deciding to have encryption on the Amateur bands, we
must do so only after developing a system of controls that prevent
its abuse. There is no anti-abuse method sugested in the current
request for rule making, but I propose this one: Encryption would
only be allowed in tests and drills that would be authorized and
publicly announced by accredited ARES or RACES organizations.
Logging of encrypted transmissions, <i>including the encryption
key,</i> would be mandatory. Stations would be required to
disclose their keys to amateur volunteers who would check recorded
transmissions for rule-violation, but those volunteers would be
required to keep any HIPAA-protected patient data within the
transmission private. Stations that repeatedly failed to cooperate
in allowing their messages to be decrypted and checked by third
parties would be subject to penalties.</p><p>But we haven't decided any of this yet. And we shouldn't without
your participation. Thus, please comment now in opposition of the
proposal.</p><p>Again, the last day for you to submit a comment opposing this is
JULY 8, so it's important for you to act now! Please make a short
comment in opposition to the proposal at <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/begin?procName=RM-11699">this
link</a>, or use <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/?procName=RM-11699">this
link</a> to upload longer documents.</p><p>About the Author: Bruce Perens K6BP is one of the founders of the
Open Source movement in software. He is also the founder of
No-Code International, the organization that successfully lobbied
for the global elimination of code testing. More recently, Perens
has been a pioneer of digital communications over Ham Radio. He
started and evangelized the Codec2 (<a href="http://codec2.org/">http://codec2.org/</a>)
project, which has developed a fully open and patent-free digital
voice codec for Radio Amateurs. That codec is now in use in FreeDV
(<a href="http://freedv.org/">http://freedv.org/</a>), which
provides clear digital voice communications on HF in half the
bandwidth of SSB. You can reach Bruce Perens K6BP at +1
510-4PERENS (US Pacific time), or email to bruce at perens dot
com.</p><p>Please forward this message to other hams. The most current
version is at <a href="http://hams.com/encryption/">http://hams.com/encryption/</a>
Please use that version.</p>
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