[fedpost]

I always find the anti-encryption arguments frustrating because all the digital modes are going to have data whitening anyway, and are therefore (if you are not aware of the exact protocol) indistinguishable from encrypted transmissions for all practical purposes. We already have a number of common systems that are basically encrypted because the codecs are proprietary.

The actual mechanism preventing abuse is the requirement to broadcast a callsign in a way that casual observers can interpret it.

[inigyou]

The difference between whitened data and encrypted data is that you can decode the whitened data if you have the correct receiver. Encryption uses a key so that you also need the correct key.

You may not have a receiver for say FT8 that I may be transmitting, but you're also transmitting in Morse code which I never learned. Nothing is stopping either of us from receiving the other's transmission if we want to.

I'm told there was been an explosion of digital modes and it is a real concern that if there are so many undocumented or hard to identify ones, it's effectively encryption. Perhaps a future rule change will address this.

Proprietary modes have never been illegal though. You can buy a receiver just like I can study morse code.