> The only solution is digital signatures assigned to call
> signs be required to sign in to the clusters, otherwise the
> cheating that Dave has so clearly demonstrated (why anyone called
> it hypothetical or innuendo I don't understand) with
> substitute call signs, connections to out of area clusters,
> etc. will continue to occur. Nothing like prohibition works,
> that manufacturers the inevitable Al Capone's and Medellin
> cartels, so the solution is to disable cheating by forcing
> identifcation to connect. Without this, we might as well
> throw up our hands and tell Dave to stop pointing it out.
>
> I would despise the job of administering this but I see no
> other real way out of the mess.
>
This has been discussed many times over the years of packet and now
internet spotting with no real solution being found. The only way to
really do it would be to start a new network completely separate from
the existing one that used something like the arrl's certificate system
to validate all incoming spots. This would be a long and complex
process to design and set up, then would require validation of users,
issuing certificates, dedicated client side software to encrypt and
transmit the spots, and more complex server side software to validate
user inputs as well as validate other node connections... and it could
not be used over rf links (at least in the U.S.) under existing rules
because of the encryption needed to make the links secure. So basically
you throw out the whole world wide system and start over. Yes, you may
be assured that all spots you get via this new system are from who they
say they are from, but who is going to invest the time and effort to
either set up or use such a system? Just look at all the discussion
about the security requirements for the lotw, just think about trying to
do the same type of process before you could login to a spotting network
to contribute your 2 cents.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
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