Noah
Well Known Member
A couple of weeks ago there was a discussion about how APRS tracking in our homebuilt aircraft is great to allow our friends and family keep tabs on us, but the downside is that ANYBODY can also know where you are (and therfore where you aren't, which could have some very bad consequences). I responded that with the use of HAM bands, there is no anonymity.
OR IS THERE?
Since posting this, I have been mulling it over in my mind. I was driving to work on Friday, thinking this over some more. FCC regs require that you use your call sign when transmitting, right? But there is NO REQUIREMENT that when your packet hits an IGATE and goes out on the internet that your callsign be attached. I don't think that too many people are concerned about their packets being intercepted via RF, I think that people are concerned that their information is being "intercepted" via open-access internet broadcast.
The solution? We need to convince the IGATE System Operators to use an alias for our callsign that we can control via web interface. So here's how I envision this working. You go to a master APRS site and "log in" using your call sign "K12345". Click on the "Alias" button and type in a unique alias ID, like "MYALILAS4321". From then on a "K12345" into ANY IGATE running standard IGATE software which has connections to the alias database (again, monitored and maintained by other HAMs), results in a "MYALIAS4321" being sent over the web. "K12345" never progresses past the IGATE, and it's "range" is no longer over the globe, but rather just the distance your transmitter can transmit. You can track your "MYALIAS4321" callsign on any of the tracking map pages, distribute it to your friends and family, thus there is no traceability to your true identity, unless you decide to distribute your alias. You can log onto the APRS website anytime and turn off your alias, or put in a different one, as long as it is unique. Completely legal, moral, and simple!
Clearly this doesn't exist today, but why couldn't it? How do we make this work?
OR IS THERE?
Since posting this, I have been mulling it over in my mind. I was driving to work on Friday, thinking this over some more. FCC regs require that you use your call sign when transmitting, right? But there is NO REQUIREMENT that when your packet hits an IGATE and goes out on the internet that your callsign be attached. I don't think that too many people are concerned about their packets being intercepted via RF, I think that people are concerned that their information is being "intercepted" via open-access internet broadcast.
The solution? We need to convince the IGATE System Operators to use an alias for our callsign that we can control via web interface. So here's how I envision this working. You go to a master APRS site and "log in" using your call sign "K12345". Click on the "Alias" button and type in a unique alias ID, like "MYALILAS4321". From then on a "K12345" into ANY IGATE running standard IGATE software which has connections to the alias database (again, monitored and maintained by other HAMs), results in a "MYALIAS4321" being sent over the web. "K12345" never progresses past the IGATE, and it's "range" is no longer over the globe, but rather just the distance your transmitter can transmit. You can track your "MYALIAS4321" callsign on any of the tracking map pages, distribute it to your friends and family, thus there is no traceability to your true identity, unless you decide to distribute your alias. You can log onto the APRS website anytime and turn off your alias, or put in a different one, as long as it is unique. Completely legal, moral, and simple!
Clearly this doesn't exist today, but why couldn't it? How do we make this work?