[CQ] Encryption in the Amateur Service - Santa Clara, California, April 24

Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Thu Apr 11 19:00:28 UTC 2013


Please pass this message to interested parties.*

Amateur Radio WiFi, Encryption, HIPAA, and HSMM-MESH

Santa Clara California, April 24
*At the Santa Clara ARES/RACES Monthly Meeting
7:30 PM to 9:30 PM,
1900 Walsh Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050**
*
At their last board meeting, ARRL considered a request to change the 
amateur radio rules to allow the use of encryption on the air. This was 
the first meeting of what will probably be a long process.

* Health providers are responsible to protect patient information under 
HIPAA, the patient privacy bill passed in 1996. It's made them 
increasingly nervous about using Radio Amateurs to provide emergency 
services. We're doing everything we can, but they're still nervous about 
being sued. The advent of digital communications over Amateur Radio 
presents a potential solution: encryption of patient information would 
protect its privacy.

High power WiFi-like devices are now available for Amateur frequencies. 
We share either the operating frequency or the IF frequency with 
conventional WiFi, but we can use higher power and higher-gain antennas 
than non-licensed users. But how do we keep non-hams off of Amateur 
digital networks? Encryption is proposed for that, too.

*/But proposed rule changes to allow encryption could be a disaster for 
ham radio:/*

  * Amateur radio isn't for private communications, but encryption would
    make communications private.
  * Frequencies that carry encrypted traffic are no longer shared
    frequencies. Hams who don't know the cryptographic key can neither
    monitor nor participate.
  * Encryption defeats self-policing in the Amateur service.
  * Encryption facilitates the use of frequencies for purposes we don't
    desire in the Amateur spectrum.
  * Amateur Radio must be /harmless/ in order to continue to be
    supported by governments. But encryption removes any assumption that
    the content of a communication is harmless

The prospect of encryption on the Amateur airwaves has been so 
contentious that ARRL's High-Speed Multimedia committee disbanded when 
half of the members walked off in anger over the topic. The HSMM-Mesh 
group prohibits discussion of encryption and the FCC rules on their 
message boards because discussion has been so acrimonious. This, 
however, has prevented them from arriving at any solution and a 
consensus among Radio Amateurs on the issue.

*Fortunately, there **/are /**solutions and consensus /is /possible. 
Bruce Perens K6BP explains:*

  * What are the HIPAA requirements?
  * How does ham-frequency WiFi work?
  * WiFi distance records vs. practical radio links.
  * What is /Fresnel distance,/ and how does it effect WiFi communications?
  * What other forms of digital communications can we use?
  * How does WiFi security work? Would it be secure over Amateur Radio?
  * What sort of encryption does Part 97 permit today?
  * What's the difference between /authentication/ and /encryption?/
  * Can we authenticate without obscuring information?
  * What is a /zero-knowledge proof/, and how can we use it on Amateur
    frequencies?
  * What are "Part 15 on-ramps", and how do they differ from Amateur
    communications?
  * What is OpenWRT, and how can it help us?
  * What is HSMM-Mesh?
  * What is end-to-end encryption, and how does it differ from WiFi
    security?
  * Should there be a capability for regulators and others to decrypt
    recorded messages after acquiring the key? Why isn't SSH/SSL the
    best protocol for this function?
  * Should we use end-to-end encryption for patient information?
  * Is there a chance for changes to HIPAA that would protect our served
    agencies?

Bruce Perens K6BP is one of the founders of the Open Source movement in 
software, and an expert witness and consultant who makes his living 
explaining technological issues to lawyers, judges, corporate officers, 
and government agencies. He is presently involved in the development of 
Codec2 an Open Source ultra-low-bandwidth digital voice codec for radio, 
and FreeDV, the Open Source HF digital voice application using Codec2. 
See freedv.org <http://freedv.org/> for more information. Perens founded 
/No-Code International /and successfully evangelized for the elimination 
of the Morse code examination for Amateur Radio licensing worldwide. He 
is the creator of /Busybox, /the foundation of embedded Linux and an 
important component of OpenWRT and the HSMM-Mesh software. He is a 
keynote speaker worldwide, and spoke at the /United Nations Summit on 
the Information Society/ at the UN's invitation.

Contact Bruce via email to bruce at perens dot com, or phone +1 
510-4PERENS (510-473-7367).

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