[CQ-Contest] The Story of Online QSLs

[jpescatore at aol.com]

There is a lower security alternative to LotW - eQSL. The only real difference in complexity is skipping the step involving a digital certificate, but eQSL has all kinds of awards for those who feel LotW is too complex or overly secure. As others have pointed out, there really isn't that much difference anymore, for anyone who has modernized logging along with QSLing.

We've seen lots of cheating in DXing over the years, just as we've seen it in contesting. Contest sponsors have had to take many steps to make it harder to cheat. Personally, I'm glad the ARRL started out by making it a bit harder for cheating to occur in DXCC awards..
Of course, I've worked in Internet security for many years, I have a bias towards building security into online systems!  Imagine if Windows had built security in back in the early 80s, or the Internet protocols in the 1990s. I would have been out of a job, but probably would still be using the same credit card number safely from 1995...
73 John K3TN