innismir.net

…and not in a good way unfortunately.

Rick, K6VVA, posted this on the CQ-Contest listserv last week that he was filing a petition to the FCC because someone (or someones) are forging callsigns on the DX Cluster network, including several prominent contesters, and are engaging in trollish behavior. While I frown on this behavior, as someone who deals with this kind of behavior on an almost daily basis the PFRM that Rick submitted to the FCC is a goldmine of unintentional comedy and another waste of the FCC’s time. Rick’s comparison to someone bootlegging a callsign to identity theft and his filing this with the FBI makes me cringe and laugh at the same time.

Rick, let me tell you: As someone who deals with all the crap that goes on the Internet, someone impersonating people on a DX cluster will rate on the FBI “to do list” right above “Find a way to arrest people on the Internet who are mean.” The FCC has no jurisdiction in this case as they can’t control what goes on networks like the Internet. Finally, there is the 1st amendment in play here as anyone should have the ability to spoof a callsign in a legal and non malicious manner. Also, I’m glad to see that Rick is trying to maximize the wasting of my Federal tax dollars by engaging not one, but two agencies on his private crusade.

Rick, and everyone else, this Internet is a scary new place, but let me teach you on how to deal with the person/persons behind this: Ignore them. By filing this PFRM, you may have thought that you might scare them, but you’ve only cause them to step up their efforts as they now they know they’re getting under your skin. Great job. Speaking of skin, you also need to toughen yours up. If cataloged all the insults hurledmy way in my 14 some-odd years on the Internet, I’m sure I could fill out an exhibit twice as long and twice as off-color.

While Rick is completely overreacting to this problem, this is a symptom of a broken system for DX Spots. DX Clusters are inherently anonymous. I can easily log into one randomly, pick a random call sign and start giving out spots to the global network. By not including any kind of authentication nor the ability to track who sent what, it allows this kind of nonsense to go on. Steps need to be taken to track down troublemakers and to include the ability to trace back spots to the originators. Sadly, such a system would require a massive push for everyone on the system to upgrade and some kind of central governance that could disconnect people who choose not to. Since the DX Cluster network is so organic, such a thing is not going to happen any time soon, and we are just going to learn how to deal with trolls on the system.