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Personal privacy—and specifically home address privacy—with regard to amateur radio licensure is an issue that has been stewing in the back of my mind for a while. When you acquire an amateur radio license in the United States, personal information including your full legal name, home address, and of course call sign are made part of the public record by the FCC. This has always been the case as far as I know, but with online access to these public records, anyone can go to QRZ.COM to find, e.g., all the licensed hams in a given zip code, or the name and address of a ham given her call sign, or the call sign and address of a ham given part of her name.
I'm not objecting to this information being public necessarily, but I've noticed many hams displaying their call signs (if not their full names) in ways that make me wonder whether they realize how much information they're sharing. Would you post your full name and home address on a public internet forum or mailing list? Wear it on a baseball cap? Have it printed on a bumper sticker on your car? Tell it to a random stranger you've just run across? These are places I've seen or heard people sharing their call signs (substituting "license plate" for "bumper sticker"). Indeed, in the culture of amateur radio it is expected that a ham shares her call sign in nearly all communications contexts, not only over the air but also in person and on the Internet. No doubt many people don't consider their full name or home address to be private information. In some sense when you apply for an amateur radio license you're agreeing to give up that privacy in return for the privilege of operating a licensed amateur radio station, but I wonder how many people realize that. I didn't consider it when I was a teenager applying for a license.
I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this subject.
I'm not objecting to this information being public necessarily, but I've noticed many hams displaying their call signs (if not their full names) in ways that make me wonder whether they realize how much information they're sharing. Would you post your full name and home address on a public internet forum or mailing list? Wear it on a baseball cap? Have it printed on a bumper sticker on your car? Tell it to a random stranger you've just run across? These are places I've seen or heard people sharing their call signs (substituting "license plate" for "bumper sticker"). Indeed, in the culture of amateur radio it is expected that a ham shares her call sign in nearly all communications contexts, not only over the air but also in person and on the Internet. No doubt many people don't consider their full name or home address to be private information. In some sense when you apply for an amateur radio license you're agreeing to give up that privacy in return for the privilege of operating a licensed amateur radio station, but I wonder how many people realize that. I didn't consider it when I was a teenager applying for a license.
I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this subject.
