(warning: long post)
All:
Earlier this year as a result of some discussions on another discussion
list I submitted the following to the FCC's Detroit office. It was not a
request for interpretation or a ruling, it was instead a proposal to
establish specific procedures acceptable to the "District Director" who
as designated in Part 97 has some flexibility to do so (see second
paragraph).
This request was bounced around quite a bit and was sent up to
Washington where I had to make several additional requests to get a
response. The response was disappointing but enlightening. See the final
response below my request. The response seem to ignore much of the
request. I'm not sure they actually took the time to read my entire
request or properly evaluate my request, or if the people who did don't
grasp the problem or the need.
I suspect that to get any farther on this matter may require a more
formal request for a ruling or changes to Part 97.
I do still think there are numerous situations other than the frequently
mentioned transmission of patient information that can be critical and
that do require some level of confidentiality. One glaring example that
came up in our exercises is information related to a pandemic and the
distribution of antiviral medications. It was apparent that the public
safety communications would be heavily used for direct control of
situations that would likely arise. In that scenario, as in our
exercises, the Hams may be tasked with communications in support the
transport and management of those medications. The assumption is that
the medications would be insufficient to supply the entire population
and that fact causes a significant security risk for those materials and
the people handling them and therefore the need for confidential
communications.
I certainly didn't propose anything beyond my very specific request, and
would not want more general acceptance of encryption in Ham radio. I do,
however, want to be prepared to serve the public as needed.
Chuck - N8DNX
-----------------
Date: May 22, 2008
From: Charles Scott N8DNX
CCECPSCO
1105 Tall Pines Ct.
Petoskey, Mi 49770
231-330-4517
To: James Bridgewater, District Director
Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau, Northeast Region, Detroit Office
24897 Hathaway Street
Farmington Hills, Michigan 48335-1552
Re: Request for procedure to protect confidentiality of
specific emergency communications
Mr. Bridgewater:
I am president of a three-county Amateur Radio emergency communications
organization covering Charlevoix, Cheboygan, and Emmet counties in
Northern Michigan. We work closely with the professional emergency
services in those counties, participating in emergency and disaster
exercises and preparing to provide any necessary communications support
that may be required. At present we have communications assets established
at each of the county emergency operations centers and have a mobile
communications trailer equipped to provide long-term on-site
communications support.
In an effort to ensure that we are able to provide full support to our
county emergency managers we would like to establish specific procedures
under which we may transmit sensitive or restricted information. I am
communicating with you as the District Director as implied by 97.309 in
your capacity to evaluate when it is necessary to "assure compliance" with
these rules. Specifically, 97.309(3) provides for you to request us to
maintain records "convertible to the original information" of the digital
communications. From this we assume you have the authority to establish
the specifics of a process by which we may maintain compliance with the
spirit of the rules and still provide for necessary communications in
support of our professional emergency services and other critical public
needs.
Specifically we propose to communicate in encrypted form the following
types of information.
1.Information regarding the availability and deployment of critical
emergency/disaster related assets for which public exposure would
constitute a potential breach of security of those assets or would
disclose sensitive information that could permit an adversarial party to
inflict harm that otherwise would not have been likely.
2.Information that by its specific nature requires confidentiality to
which emergency/disaster victims are entitled.
3.Information that is restricted from disclosure by law, such as
restrictions imposed by HIPAA.
4.Simulated confidential communications for emergency/disaster
preparedness exercises and communications tests.
Considering that Part 97 does already permit encryption of certain
transmissions where security of those transmissions is critical ( i.e.
91.211(a), obscuring the meaning of telecommand messages to a station in
space operation) and that with appropriate procedures the actual content
of our intended communications would be made available as required to
ensure compliance, we propose the following procedures for the
transmission and retention of content for these transmissions.
1.Confidential communications are only those associated with an actual
emergency/disaster situation and requested by the served professional
emergency services, and are not generated or transmitted on behalf of the
Amateur Radio operators themselves or other persons or entities not
directly responsible for management of the actual emergency or disaster.
2.Copies of all confidential communications are preserved in encrypted
form for later evaluation by your office or by other competent authority
along with a description of the time, reason, source, destination, and
general purpose of the communication.
3.All confidential communications are encrypted using a single public-key
encryption key created for either the specific emergency/disaster event or
specific time period and for which the decryption key is made available to
your office or other competent authority as requested.
4.Communications via Amateur radio gateways to specific Web sites operated
by the professional emergency services or government entities for the
purpose of managing emergency/disaster situations be permitted to use the
"HTTPS" protocols these sites require. (A specific example is access to
Michigan's "E Team" incident and event management system for which members
of our organization have access and training.)
5.Simulated confidential communications be permitted for
emergency/disaster preparedness exercises and communications tests
provided that compliance with items 2 and 3 above is maintained.
We believe that the need for flexibility in regard to the transmission of
sensitive information is essential for public service Amateur Radio
organizations such as ours to properly serve our professional emergency
agencies and the greater public need in emergency and disaster situations.
Not only does it seem important to offer our served agencies a backup and
overflow capability for their established communications, some of which do
required confidentiality, but it would seem to be prudent to offer the
Amateur Radio services supporting their needs in an emergency or disaster
the flexibility to serve those agencies as is needed to deal with
situations as they arise.
We neither seek special exemption from the written rules for Amateur Radio
nor any other additional capability beyond our participation with
emergency and disaster communications support. What we seek is clarity in
how to apply the rules as set forth in Part 97 and in cooperation with our
associated FCC District Director and to establish procedures and protocols
under which we can operate in the best interest of the public need and in
known compliance as designated by your office.
We look forward to your response in this matter and are available for
further explanation or refinement of the processes and protocols outlined
above.
Sincerely,
Charles Scott, President
Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet Counties Public Service Communications
Organization
References:
Charlevoix-Cheboygan-Emmet Office of Emergency Management
Acting Emergency Manager:
Jack Messer
[email protected]
231-439-3300
---------------------
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ULS Help Case HD0000001063059 Resolution
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:17:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: FCC - WTB Support <[email protected]>
Reply-To: FCC - WTB Support <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
The case you submitted via the FCC has been resolved. The resolution
details for Case ID HD0000001063059 are below.
If you have any questions contact us at (877) 480-3201.
Thank You!
Summary* : Status of Request to Detroit Field Office
Description* : Interested in status of the attached request. Was
told it was forwarded to Wireless Bureau.
Solution Details : Dear Mr. Scott,
They should be using public service frequencies and public safety
protocols if they want to transmit "sensitive patient information." They
may get permission to transmit on public safety frequencies from the
licensee of those frequencies.
Should you have any further questions, or need additional
information, please submit a request through
https://esupport.fcc.gov/request.htm or call the ULS Customer Support
Hotline at 1-877-480-3201, selecting option 2 after the main menu.
Sincerely,
Agent 3856 cml
ULS Customer Support
