[PVRCNC] Fwd: For your consideration

Wed Jul 17 01:46:25 EDT 2019

> FYI- an email list of all arrl board members is below....please consider getting many people to write them all! Here is a letter I just sent to the entire ARRL board.... I hope you will also write them today, and let your views be known to them before their board meeting this Friday.
>> 
>> T U es 73,
>> Ted N9NB 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> From: Theodore Rappaport <tr51 at nyu.edu>
>>>>>> Date: July 17, 2019 at 12:16:49 AM EDT
>>>>>> To: w3tom at arrl.org, w9xa at arrl.org, K0BBC at arrl.org, k5uz at arrl.org, k5ur at aol.com, WA8EFK at arrl.org, n2rj at arrl.net, k0das at arrl.org, Fred Hopengarten <k1vr at arrl.org>, N5AUS at n5aus.com, w7vo at arrl.org, k6jat at arrl.org, w2ru at arrl.org, k0rm at arrl.org, w4ozk at arrl.org, "Richard J. Norton, N6Aa" <n6aa at arrl.org>
>>>>>> Subject: For your consideration
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Dear ARRL Board Members:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> As you prepare to do important work for our avocation at the upcoming board
>>>>>> meeting, I write as a fellow ham who,
>>>>>> like you, wishes to improve and 
>>>>>> perpetuate our hobby.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I wanted to make sure you had correct information about an important topic that impacts the future of our hobby.  Some advocates of Winlink cling to information which I and others know to simply be inaccurate, and they would have you accept such inaccurate information as fact.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Pactor and Winlink emails are not allowed in most of the 161 ITU treaty countries. There is no treaty with the US state department to send email (3rd party messages) to about 110 of the 161 countries in the ITU. See:
>>>>>> http://www.arrl.org/third-party-operating-agreements
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Thus," ham-to-non ham" emails to over 100 countries violate US State dept. 3rd party rules. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The email data in the Winlink network is not screened manually by humans before transmission;
>>>>>> so, unlike old-time phone patches, where a human ham provided oversight to all traffic over the ham spectrum, the store and forward messages are not screened and are dumped into the ham bands without oversight, and without knowledge or oversight by the control ops (RMS stations) before the data is sent over the ham spectrum. To me, it seems that Winlink operates more like a "common carrier" email system rather than an amateur radio service mode for "ham to ham" communication.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Here is a vital question: Is it fair to allow a small group of email sysops to self-enforce and operate a global email network in the ham bands, where messages are not prescreened and are mostly ham-to-non-ham communication, or should all data in ham radio be open,
>>>>>> over the air, so that the *entire* ham community (not just a chosen few) can apply oversight, peer pressure, and learn what is going on over the air?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And how can a tiny group of sys ops be trusted to properly run a global email system in the ham spectrum, when no other entity does this in ham radio? Doesn't this violate the use of ham radio to bypass
>>>>>> other available commercial email systems?  And what if a new email entity or new coding method pops up in our hobby?
>>>>>> Wouldn't we all want transparency of "over the air" data? 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And is a "web viewer" provided by the Winlink email system truly to be trusted, when all the raw bits of all the emails and the "back end" of the Winlink traffic system are hidden from public view. What if there is a breakdown in the web viewer, or time delays due to back end problems? How can anyone guarantee that a web viewer matches true over the air transmissions? Why empower a tiny group to do this, when so much obfuscation and objection has occurred  for decades?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And in an emergency, how can anyone Direction-find a station in distress with a web viewer? Only over the air transparency can help in an emergency. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> How can anyone know if the web viewing system, or parts or all of the data hidden from view, is being tampered with? Isn't ham radio about openness and transparency?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> A group of us tried to resolve these issues in good faith, but as ARRL Attorney Dave Siddall reported this week to the FCC, unfortunately one group wanted an all-or-none position in these issues. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> There are various videos and demonstrations that claim Winlink modes can be decoded for meaning over the air, but these are contrived situations, with no fading and perfect channel state present; or the videos show the rarely-used keyboard to keyboard mode, which are uncompressed modes  of Pactor 2 and 3,4. This uncompressed mode could be used by Winlink, and this would solve all issues with data transparency over the air!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please read www.pactor.com 
>>>>>> to help inform your decisions, to see how virtually no one uses Pactor in an open way, for keyboard to keyboard qso's or for ACDS (the Winlink system).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> When ARQ or compression is being used in Winlink modes, effective encryption occurs.
>>>>>> If Winlink would stop using ARQ and compression, and would use "unprotected" modes based solely on Forward Error Control (as is done in ft-8 and the original Pactor 1 and AMTOR packet modes) , all would be well, and the Winlink data would be open and compliant with Part 97, as it  
>>>>>> would be open for intercept just like ALL other data modes. This could easily be done by Winlink. They merely would need to turn off the ARQ and compression, and operate in a broadcast mode, just
>>>>>> like all other data modes in ham radio. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> This could easily be done by the Winlink modes, if they wished to, just as is done in FT-8 and RTTY, etc.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Everyone can read for themselves the Winlink FAQ,
>>>>>> Q&A 260, to see how Winlink intentionally hides the meaning of the messages when eavesdropped over the air:
>>>>>> https://www.winlink.org/sites/default/files/wl2k_faq_20150314.pdf
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> "Data transferred from through Winlink 2000 using the Keyboard method is not compressed; therefore it is
>>>>>> readable by other listeners" ........, unfortunately, in that document, the full truth is not stated in that same document, which is; open decoding only occurs in the unprotected kybd-kybd uncompressed mode. When the proprietary compression is used, as in the case of Winlink, security is obtained through its effective encryption.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And also seet Section II.c on page 3 for "how the Winlink guru is offering a prize" if anyone can crack the encryption, but no one ever has:
>>>>>>  http://www.la3f.no/faste/digi/winlink/ExpressTutorial1130a.pdf
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> THIS  is what you get when using Sourcerer to try and decode Winlink- see the actual decode by N1FM. You will see this using your own w1aw Winlink account: 
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/new-digital-petition-at-the-fcc-rm-11831.652589/page-61
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Here is an honest ham talking about Winlink:
>>>>>> https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/1222718116209
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> How can we expect kids to join our hobby,
>>>>>> or create  a future arsenal of technical experts if such obfuscation occurs, or if this lack of transparency is placated ? 
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> What kind of parent would want their kids to get into this hobby if grown adults can't get together, be honest and open about what is happening, and work out a compromise that includes transparency?
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> The rancor and deception that has surrounded Winlink for the last 20 years does not help our hobby, or our long term STEM issues. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> You have an opportunity to end this rancor,  and to set the hobby on an honest and open footing. 
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> If you support effectively encrypted data, our hobby will likely deteriorate and continue to suffer anemic growth. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> But if you support open, over the air transparency, great things will happen like it did in the early days of Pactor 1 and AMTOR. Winlink programmers will come up with new and exciting broadcast modes that are both open and more efficient, rather than relying on 20 year old technology that does not lend itself to open experimentation or transparency in innovation. 
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> For the long term, we won't attract youth to the hobby if we continue to support hidden messages or a lack of openness to all activities in ham radio. And youth are the key to our country's future. Youth aren't likely to be excited about 20-year old email technology that is effectively encrypted. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please, Let's create an open culture that is inviting to young people. Please be sensitive to these issues in your upcoming board meeting.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thank you for your consideration. I am at your service.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Vy  73 ted N9NB
>>>>>>