catchy_handle asks:
"In the US, all amateur radio (ham) call signs are public record. Anyone with a decent police scanner can listen to the local hams on the 2m and 70cm bands. Given an operator's call sign, one can search the FCC databases which will return the licensees street address, among other data. As a future ham, I found this thread on eHam.net somewhat alarming. The majority of respondents stated that it's always been this way, that they have nothing to hide, and to stop being paranoid. [I disagree.] As a victim of ID theft, the less joe-crack-head knows about me the better. I'm pretty sure of the typical Slashdot reader's angle here, but my question is to the hams: Does this bother you? Or is it part of tradition and something a good operator should be proud of? Is it too late since these guys already know all?"
"I was surprised by the resistance to reconsider the status-quo, to adapt to the new reality of criminals with computers.
I suggested that the portals to the public databases be replaced with a challenge/response system such that if someone wanted my address, I'd get a notification from the QSL bureau, or the FCC that so-and-so was requesting access to my data. I could then decide to grant or deny that request. One person said that California's DMV works this way already (very cool). Another option: anyone is allowed to provide a PO Box to the FCC, instead of a street address, but that's an extra expense to many. "
Re:daddypants is not at work - Clickable Link (Score:1, Offtopic)
You'd think the editors would use the preview button if the submitter doesn't.
Re:daddypants is not at work or doesn't read his e (Score:2)
Why are we removing the natural sandbags that once limited the spillover damage by tacitly allowing companies and the government to reduce us to a single unique identifier?
There should be a mandatory separation between the identifiers used to authenticate ourselves to
You don't need a call sign (Score:2)
You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:5, Informative)
They don't have a choice. Primary place of operation must be listed to register a callsign.
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:2)
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:3, Interesting)
BURNS, JERRY P, KE6PTD (Technician)
PO BOX 245554
SACRAMENTO, CA 95824-5554
Issue Date: Jan 05, 1995
Expire Date: Jan 05, 2005
Date of last Change: Jan 05, 1995
Gasser, William M, AK6G (Extra)
PO BOX 246143
Sacramento, CA 95824
Previous call sign: WA0KIU
Previous license class: General
Licensee ID: L00207752
FRN: 0002142552
Issue Date: Apr 04, 2002
Expire Date: Apr 04, 2012
Date of last Change: Apr 04, 2002 (License Issue
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:3, Informative)
Mea Culpa (Score:2)
I do know that they used to insist on a geographic address for the station. Every license application and renewal that I have filed had that language. They must have dropped the requirement since the last time I filled out the paperwork.
Re:Mea Culpa (Score:2)
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:1)
You can't get a station license for a P.O. box (Score:1)
I am a HAM, and you are mistaken.
My license has always been delivered to my Post Office Box.
I do not have US Mail delivery at my location in a small town in California.
It's not as uncommon as you may think.
73 - KE6EBZ
Re:You can't get a station license for a P.O. box (Score:2)
For example, I used to have an APO mailing address. I had to provide the FCC a description of the location of the station, Room X in Building Y on Army Base Z.
Then again, I got my amateur license when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. The FCC has eliminated or reformed many of its rules since then.
Re:You couldn't operator with out one. (Score:2)
This can be as simple as a polite note pointing out a problem with someone's signal quality (which would be a rules violation had the FCC heard it..) to peer pressure in the form of suggestion that the FCC will be informed if some particular bad behavior continues.
Note that when it gets
I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:1)
well (Score:1)
Basically, such openness is necessary. If you hear someone on the air that is breaking a rule (maybe inadvertantly), then you need to be able to locate where they are transmitting from. Having the FCC database helps.
If you know where they are, you might try contacting them and asking them to stop using ham frequencies for commercial use. Sometimes the
Before the Web (Score:4, Informative)
They have nothing to hide? (Score:1)
Re:They have nothing to hide? (Score:3, Interesting)
Being a ham radio operator is entirely optional, there's no way to argue that not being one deprives you of livlihood. If you want to make a "free speech" argument, then you better complain about the many other ham rules that prevent you from cursing on the air, and many other rules about the types of traffic that are acceptable. Those would be much more important to address if you view ham as some sort of outlet for free
Re:They have nothing to hide? (Score:2)
Name: William H. Gates, III
Phone: (425) 882-8080
Address: 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052
SSN: 539-60-5125
Credit Cards: Your own. I'll have all of your money eventually anyway. Mooohooohooohahahahahaha....
Oh, you said "with nothing to hide". Oh well. Back to counting then...
Thirty-one-billion-three-hundred-seventy - million-five-hundred-thirty-five-thousand-nine-hun dred-twenty-three dollars...
Thirty-one-billion-three-hundred-seven ty-million-five-hundred-thirty-five-thousand-nine- hundred-twe
Complete openness better than full privacy (Score:1)
If I can't verify your identity, then the whole system falls apart and you are left with the mess that CB is. The more difficult you make getting the information, the more likely I'm going to just forget the whole deal, and then we all lose out.
Take a look at Kuro5hin for a system that is completely open. Every user must have a login ID and every moderation
Re:Complete openness better than full privacy (Score:2)
I got some bad news for you, sunshine (Score:2)
Case in point: I got a spam at my work email, the title of which was:
my.work.address REFINANCE YOUR MORTGAGE ON my home mailing address.
Now, let me explain that at no time is my work address directly linked to my home mailing address, which is a P.O. Box. However, my work email address is of the form firstname.lastname@companyname.example, and I recently bought a hous
Re:I got some bad news for you, sunshine (Score:2)
What do I get?
You get a cookie (Score:1)
Not just an issue for hams (Score:5, Interesting)
How many slashdotters own a domain name (or 10)? My name address and phone number have been available in the Whois database since Jan 1997. Those who aren't such Internet newbs have had their info in Whois for better than a decade. So many of my friends have domain names that I've occasionally used Whois to look up their phone numbers. (I'm not sure I want to think about what that says about me or my friends).
Is it a problem? I don't think so. Home/mailing addresses and phone numbers are pretty trivial to get for just about anyone. What's the harm in having yet another source?
Then again, maybe this attitude will come back to haunt me...
Re:Not just an issue for hams (Score:1)
My name address and phone number have been available in the Whois database since Jan 1997.
You updated it? My address from April 1997 and jfax voice mail number is listed in thhe whois database.
Re:Not just an issue for hams (Score:2)
It's not a problem for me. I've had a P.O. Box and an unlisted phone number all of my adult life (decades).
The only people who know my real address is the electric company, and I expect it's just a matter of time before data-mining/coordination undoes *years* of hard work.
A.
(who never wanted it to become a 'problem')
Re:Not just an issue for hams (Score:1)
Who needs an address? (Score:2, Insightful)
Certainly from a practical standpoint it makes harvesting easier... but on the "principle" of the thing is seems to me that any HAM operator is already publishing their location simply by broadcasting.
Re:Who needs an address? (Score:1)
Heh. =P
Direction Finding (Score:3)
The FCC requires all radio stations to identify themselves with their callsign. This makes it much easier to track down sources of interference when combined with the license database.
The license database encourages accountability, and I think it should be kept a public record.
Same As Australia (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Same As Australia (Score:1)
It doesn't bother me (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, what does bother me is that my Dad has taken steps to not show up on WhitePages.com and other similar pages, not show up in the phone book and such, and yet there is a whole lot of info you can find on him just typing his name into google because of the organizations he's in (and specifically their newsletters).
There's not a whole lot that he
The regulations (Score:2)
HAM operators are the latest target of id thieves! (Score:1)
Fucking christ... (Score:1, Insightful)
Grow the hell up.
i'm all over! (Score:2, Informative)
if you google my name [google.com], the first result is both my callsign and my dad's callsign showing our address, home phone number, etc. i mentioned it to my dad, and he didn't seem bothered by it. the only thing that worried him is whether it had our SSNs. it doesn't, so we're not worried.
in fact, more recently, if you look through the CDBS [fcc.gov] form 349 entries for Radio Assist Ministry and Edgewater Broadcasting, you'll find my name (in a handlful of applications) and the name (and address) of my current employer t
I'm not bothered by this (Score:2)
The problem is that my info isn't all that hard to find. I can either live in fear that somebody will *gasp* find my address and
Ham Radio is not supposed to be secretive (Score:2)
Most of these rules promote the openness of this activity. There is no room for commercial activity with its attendant focus on economy and trade sec
Fun with call sign license plates... (Score:2)
As a ham, I'm not thrilled that my address is listed for all to see, but I must admit that it's kinda nice to be able to do a zip lookup and find others from my community who are into radio. If it were voluntary, I always wonder how many of us would contribut
Try your area code and phone number in google (Score:2)
Please think about what you want made "private" (Score:1)
Don't like it? Don't get a license (Score:1)
Re:Don't like it? Don't get a license (Score:1)
No need for call sign: (Score:2)
Go figure out how to get all the data yourself, it's not too hard.
Get a PO box (Score:2)
Reused call signs (Score:2)
It just struck me as odd that his old 4 digit call sign now belongs to some guy in Georgia.
its all about dx :) (Score:2)
challenge/response (Score:2)
That's not a "challenge/response system". Challenge/response is when you try to authenticate yourself to a computer, the computer challenges you with a question, and you respond.
You want to approve who gets to see your records. Sensible, perhaps, but completely diff
Beam me up scotty! (Score:1)
Surprised everyone missed the point (Score:1)
Sorry about the broken links, I did preview and thought the corrections worked. As usual, many folks just don't read the story, or don't retain what they've read: I am not a ham yet, but have been around them my entire life and am aware of how things are.
I have had mail stolen from my front door and used against me. Welcome to urban life in the 21st century. And that
Re:Surprised everyone missed the point (Score:2)
Another consideration - Joe Crackhead isn't necessarily going to know a ham radio callsign from a can of spam. Especially meth users - very few of them are really that clever, and tend more towards paranoia than simple deduction. Besides, a lot of mundanes will ask me "What's KE6ISF?" and actually try and pronounce it. These are people who are otherwise intelligent, and unless they'v