Codes, ciphers, and ham radio

[msattler@netcom.com (Michael Sattler)]

And now for something different regarding crypto:

In studying for my FCC Technician's license I ran across FCC 97.113
(Sub-part 113 of Part 97 of Title 47 Code of Federal Regulations), which
prohibits the use of codes or ciphers to obscure the meaning of a message.

Besides preventing me from using Pig Latin in voice communications, this
*seems* to prohibit the use of any deliberate encryption (as opposed to
compression) of data transmitted via radio, such as the computer packet ->
radio -> Internet gateways.

The data highway may be encryption-tolerant today, but the off-ramps are murder.

:-) M


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Sattler         msattler@netcom.com        +1 (415) 621-2903
Digital Jungle Software    Encrypt now; ask me how.   (finger for PGP key)

               All that is required for evil to triumph is
                for {wo}men of good will to do nothing.