echicken wrote to W6RAY <=-
If a Synchronet BBS - generally accessible via telnet, dial-up, the
web, NNTP, etc. - suddenly became accessible via amateur packet radio,
I wonder what (if any) issues would arise from the non-ham content that
it would have to offer.
Telnet access is available only if one knows the address. (GRIN) I don't publish that locally and a lot of hams here have no clue about the
Synchronet BBS
At one time I used JNOS as a telnet gateway to my Synchronet BBS, with
a custom command shell on the other side. Any messages that Synchronet was sending back to the client passed through a censorship function
that took all of the f***, s**t, p**s, etc. out of the text and
replaced it with ****. Another sysop whose Synchronet BBS was available
on packet simply had a disclaimer that advised hams to be careful of
which subs they read over the air, as some were linguistically cleaner than others. I'm no fan of censorship, but rules is rules; I'm
wondering what approach others would take.
As you can see, I "edited" those words in my reply for personal reasons.
I would choose the former, over the latter. I am somewhat responsible
what is passed over the air, even third party traffic. But when one logs
into JNOS, they use their own call and anything that may go out over the
air uses the logged call. (I should probably double check that using a
Club's call over which I preside.)
Industry Canada doesn't allow an amateur to transmit anything that originated from a commercial / broadcast undertaking, so if I follow
that to the letter I'd need to filter out the CNN Breaking News
messages that turn up in (IIRC) the Debate sub when bad things happen
in the world. This is well and good when you know about messages like that in advance. I'm not sure how I'd go about programatically
filtering out commercial content or business-related messages.
Admittedly not a huge problem, but still a possibility.
I haven't noticed much of that within the packet bulletin areas (also
known as "floods"). When I mentioned passing message traffic, I was
speaking of those "floods" being transferred to and from a Synchronet
BBS so interested users could read them and only licensed amateurs being
able to post, with a flag set within Synchronet. I already have such a
flag set up to allow only those whom I have manually added can access the telnet door to the packet BBS list. I worked for my license and don't
want to jeopardize it in any way.
You mentioned the commercial related content above; while it is not
legal here in the states to use amateur frequencies for business
(dispatch, etc.) it is legal to use your radio along with a phone patch
to order a pizza, for example.
Most packet BBSs automatically log you in based on your callsign.
Would we forego that and ask people to sign up the same way they would
if they had telnetted in? Maybe I could find a way to link a callsign
to an existing account, storing it as the chat handle or in the notes field or something.
As mentioned, you could simply use a flag within Synchronet to allow
access to amateurs.
Any other considerations that anyone can think of?
I will let you know.
BTW - Where are you located and what is your call?
73 de Ray W6RAY
Visalia, CA USA
... When all else fails - Ham radio WORKS!
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