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From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: Should encrypted radio be legally protected?
Message-ID: <2422@phri.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 30-Aug-86 23:01:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: phri.2422
Posted: Sat Aug 30 23:01:17 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 31-Aug-86 05:08:30 EDT
References: <1632@well.UUCP> <1013@hoptoad.uucp> <1170@utastro.UUCP> <3230@brl-smoke.ARPA> <1044@hoptoad.uucp> <74@mtxinu.UUCP>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 33
Summary: Not on my bandwidth you don't.

In article <74@mtxinu.UUCP> ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) writes
> If the sender wants to keep a transmission private, and takes reasonable
> steps to do so [...] then it should be illegal to decrypt.

	The problem is that there is just a finite amount of electromagnetic
bandwidth (yes, I know there really isn't a theoretical limit to how high
you can go, but practical limitations come into play; I believe anybody is
free to transmit whatever they like above 300 GHz, but good luck getting
there).  As I understand things, one of the underlying postulates that has
always guided FCC regulations is that because bandwidth is a limited
resource, it is considered public property.  To prevent chaos, we regulate
what people are allowed to transmit, but since we consider the "airwaves"
to be public property, we don't regulate what people can receive.

	There seems to be a slow but continuing trend away from this
policy, however.  I consider this to be a Bad Thing.  Some states, for
example, have laws making it illegal to own devices capable of receiving
certain frequencies (i.e. police radar).

	On the other hand, most people would not argue with the premise
that it is illegal to monitor land-line based phone conversations.  In New
York (or any big city, I guess) phone wires run under the street, and
physical space to put those wires is just as much a finite public resource
as radio bandwidth.  So, should we apply the same rules to phone lines --
I'm free to listen in as long as I don't interfere?

	This is one of those articles that raises a lot of questions
without attempting to provide any answers (let alone ram those answers down
peoples' throats).  Consider this just food for thought.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016