jhs%Mitre-Bedford@d3unix.ARPA (08/27/85)
One reason the Amateur Radio Service has always been treated so well by the FCC is that we have a tradition of self-policing of adherence to the rules and regulations. Tricks to "hide" encrypted material in plaintext would run counter to this tradition and therefore would be very strongly frowned upon by most hams. Also, if such a trick SHOULD be noticed by the authorities, the culprits might find themselves in a lot of hot water not just with the FCC but with the FBI until the Feds satisfied themselves that it was in fact just some computer hobbyists and not something more sinister. As for cryptographic authentication schemes for computer login, I suspect that the FCC could be brought around to approving this as in the public interest as a better way of controlling access to radio-based systems. The key fact here is that encryption is not used to obscure meaning but to control unauthorized access, and nothing in the rules seems to prohibit this. 73, John S., W3IKG