[Cryptography] ham radio and encryption

[Arnold Reinhold]

On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 12:08, Bob Wilson pointed out:

> 
> PART 97?AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE...
> 
> ?97.113 Prohibited transmissions.*
> *(a) No amateur station shall transmit:
> 
> ...
> 
> (4) Music using a phone emission except as specifically provided 
> elsewhere in this section; communications intended to facilitate a 
> criminal act; messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their 
> meaning, except as otherwise provided herein; obscene or indecent 
> words or language; or false or deceptive messages, signals or 
> identification.

> (5) Communications, on a regular basis, which could reasonably be 
> furnished alternatively through other radio services.

When I was first licensed as a kid in the late 1950s, I was told that the ban on secret codes was to stop spies. Note that amateur radio was completely shut down during World War II. (There was a small War Emergency Radio Service staffed by hams, on VHF bands.) Today, the amateur community would likely oppose lifting the restriction on encryption, lest their valuable spectrum be choked with illegal but hard to detect commercial use. Note, by the way, that paragraph (5) is carefully worded to allow commercial communication in an emergency. 

Arnold Reinhold, K2PNK