Post by witzcowitz on Jan 4, 2015 6:20:30 GMT
From all reports, the international Enigma 'event' on HF turned out a bit of a disappointment. Which raises the question: why aren't keen hams in the EWCG using Enigma live on the air all the time? Obviously that was a tongue-in-cheek question ... because it has generally been accepted without question, and indeed is written in the radio regulations of most countries, that amateur "Communications must not be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning, except for control signals by the operators of remotely controlled amateur stations." ... quote from the New Zealand Radiocommunications (sic) Regulations (General User Radio Licence for Amateur Radio Operators) Notice 2013.
It can be readily seen that only the word encoded appears, which by definition refers to the act of converting a string of letters, numbers or symbols (presumably originating from clear text) into a data stream, usually digital, though it can of course be FSK or any other suitable mode. The quoted clause lacks any other useful detail, is at best ambiguous and at worst obsolete. The word 'encryption', whereby clear text is converted into cypher text [without any coding] is conspicuous by its absence, therefore by default, encryption is permitted (but one is left to guess whether the cypher text needs to be decypherable). The interpretation depends upon whether the author of the legislation understood the definitions of the two very different uses and functions of those methodologies, at the time of his writing the draft for what subsequently became law. If any other meaning was intended, then the government gurus, cleverly disguised as proof readers, should have picked it up.
Regardless of the intrinsic ambiguity created by the regulation's sparce wording, if an amateur operator provides all the facilities needed to decrypt any Enigma-encrypted message which has been transmitted by his station, the proposition that the purpose of Enigma encryption was to obscure the meaning of the original plain text is stopped dead in its tracks. Instead, it can easily be seen that the use of Enigma was simply to raise historical interest and increase the range of skills and disciplines employed by amateur radio operators interested in communication using the [oft-misnamed] Morse code. The fact that ham's information transfer is slowed to an unprecedented crawl doesn't enter this argument!
Of course it is entirely the responsibility of every amateur radio operator to clarify for himself how his country's radio regulations are worded. The path he chooses will hinge on that discovery, but so long as links are provided giving access to the tools for decryption, at least for me all bases have been covered: 1) encrypted transmissions are not verboten, 2) the transmissions are NOT encoded, and 3) the Enigma-encrypted transmissions can easily be decrypted ... thanks to the focused dedication of, and incomparable utilities provided by Dirk Rijmenants.
It can be readily seen that only the word encoded appears, which by definition refers to the act of converting a string of letters, numbers or symbols (presumably originating from clear text) into a data stream, usually digital, though it can of course be FSK or any other suitable mode. The quoted clause lacks any other useful detail, is at best ambiguous and at worst obsolete. The word 'encryption', whereby clear text is converted into cypher text [without any coding] is conspicuous by its absence, therefore by default, encryption is permitted (but one is left to guess whether the cypher text needs to be decypherable). The interpretation depends upon whether the author of the legislation understood the definitions of the two very different uses and functions of those methodologies, at the time of his writing the draft for what subsequently became law. If any other meaning was intended, then the government gurus, cleverly disguised as proof readers, should have picked it up.
Regardless of the intrinsic ambiguity created by the regulation's sparce wording, if an amateur operator provides all the facilities needed to decrypt any Enigma-encrypted message which has been transmitted by his station, the proposition that the purpose of Enigma encryption was to obscure the meaning of the original plain text is stopped dead in its tracks. Instead, it can easily be seen that the use of Enigma was simply to raise historical interest and increase the range of skills and disciplines employed by amateur radio operators interested in communication using the [oft-misnamed] Morse code. The fact that ham's information transfer is slowed to an unprecedented crawl doesn't enter this argument!
Of course it is entirely the responsibility of every amateur radio operator to clarify for himself how his country's radio regulations are worded. The path he chooses will hinge on that discovery, but so long as links are provided giving access to the tools for decryption, at least for me all bases have been covered: 1) encrypted transmissions are not verboten, 2) the transmissions are NOT encoded, and 3) the Enigma-encrypted transmissions can easily be decrypted ... thanks to the focused dedication of, and incomparable utilities provided by Dirk Rijmenants.
