4 ms·

Aren't there FCC regulations that forbid encryption over non-military radio?

by TechBro8615 3y ago

mirashii 3y ago
For amateur radio, but no in general.
- tarxvf 3y ago
  And it's not even actually illegal for amateur radio though there continues to be debate on the topic due to the phrasing. I do think that encryption is firmly outside of the amateur culture in most cases, but legality is well covered here: https://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/Data%20Encryption%20is%20Legal.pdf https://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/Data%20Encryption%20is%2...
  - Gordonjcp 3y ago
    In the UK, it's illegal to encrypt for the purposes of obscuring communication. There was a lot of noise about G3RUH modems in the olden days when 9600bps packet was starting out, because they used a "scrambler" to whiten the spectrum of the data being sent, and people assumed that meant it was using a secret key to encrypt traffic. I mean, in a sense it was - you're trying to make thing with long runs of patterns look as much like noise as possible, which is the goal of encryption - but in order for it to work as a modem both ends have to have the same "key" which was a very short LFSR that would pull into sync during the training burst. In practice, at least in the UK, you can more-or-less do what you like as long as you're not making a nuisance of yourself. You literally cannot pay Ofcom to investigate anything on the amateur bands, although you might get a lot of grumbling from daft old bastards.
- warble 3y ago
  It's legal to encrypt as long as anyone can decrypt as I understand it.
  - warble 3y ago
    Sorry, has the means to decrypt it.
charcircuit 3y ago
Well there are radio protocols like wifi and 5g which are encrypted, so I doubt it's illegal.
- m4rtink 3y ago
  Different spectrum licensing applies to those (ISM & commercial respectively).
Gordonjcp 3y ago
I wouldn't have thought so, since most DMR products are certified for use in the US by the FCC and include fairly strong encryption. Also, do bear in mind that most people don't need to care what the FCC says, or stick to their rules. I'm currently operating equipment that quite thoroughly violates FCC rules, and there's not a thing anyone can do about it :-D

Aren't there FCC regulations that forbid encryption over non-military radio?

mirashii 3y ago

For amateur radio, but no in general.

tarxvf 3y ago
And it's not even actually illegal for amateur radio though there continues to be debate on the topic due to the phrasing. I do think that encryption is firmly outside of the amateur culture in most cases, but legality is well covered here: https://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/Data%20Encryption%20is%20Legal.pdf https://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/Data%20Encryption%20is%2...
- Gordonjcp 3y ago
  In the UK, it's illegal to encrypt for the purposes of obscuring communication. There was a lot of noise about G3RUH modems in the olden days when 9600bps packet was starting out, because they used a "scrambler" to whiten the spectrum of the data being sent, and people assumed that meant it was using a secret key to encrypt traffic. I mean, in a sense it was - you're trying to make thing with long runs of patterns look as much like noise as possible, which is the goal of encryption - but in order for it to work as a modem both ends have to have the same "key" which was a very short LFSR that would pull into sync during the training burst. In practice, at least in the UK, you can more-or-less do what you like as long as you're not making a nuisance of yourself. You literally cannot pay Ofcom to investigate anything on the amateur bands, although you might get a lot of grumbling from daft old bastards.
warble 3y ago
It's legal to encrypt as long as anyone can decrypt as I understand it.
- warble 3y ago
  Sorry, has the means to decrypt it.

charcircuit 3y ago

Well there are radio protocols like wifi and 5g which are encrypted, so I doubt it's illegal.

m4rtink 3y ago
Different spectrum licensing applies to those (ISM & commercial respectively).

Gordonjcp 3y ago

I wouldn't have thought so, since most DMR products are certified for use in the US by the FCC and include fairly strong encryption. Also, do bear in mind that most people don't need to care what the FCC says, or stick to their rules. I'm currently operating equipment that quite thoroughly violates FCC rules, and there's not a thing anyone can do about it :-D