[drats_users] D-RATS and FCC Part 97.219d

[Dan Smith]

> But there is a problem, I don’t think what we want to do is legal, but it
> ought to be. D-RATS has no system callsign authentication
> and as such no way to tell a ham from a non-ham using the system. Under
> normal circumstances with Internet only D-RATS stations this isn’t
> a problem, but by attaching a radio to D-RATS, having the automatic
> E-mail forwarding feature of D-RATS enabled, and actually doing automatic
> E-mail forwarding by an unmanned D-RATS station I believe would be
> in violation of FCC Part 97.219d.

Hmm, you're concerned because of the potential to accept traffic from 
the internet containing (for example) profanity and forwarding that over RF?

My first reaction was to be that the Winlink 2000 system behaves in the 
same way. However, they do have the WL2K// subject line mechanism. I 
wouldn't call that an "authentication mechanism" because a spammer could 
have a field day with @winlink.org if he knew or cared.

Tell me more about what you see as the problem and what you propose 
(from a high level) to fix it.

-- 
Dan Smith
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS