SB QST @ ARRL $ARLB035
ARLB035 New rules on messages
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 35  ARLB035
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  April 18, 1994
To all radio amateurs

The FCC has released its Report and Order in PR Docket 93-85,
regarding messages relayed by amateur high speed networks.  The new
rules, effective June 1, 1994, will establish what the FCC calls "a
compliance policy for amateur stations participating in automatic
message-forwarding systems."

The new rules relieve most station operators in such networks of
responsibility for the content of the messages relayed by their
stations.  Under current rules, all licensees in a chain of
forwarding stations are responsible for message content.

Originators of messages continue to be responsible, and the first
forwarding stations are responsible either for the content of the
message or for verifying the identity of the originator.

The FCC also relieved repeater control operators of responsibility
for inadvertent retransmission of communications that violate the
rules.  All operators remain responsible for discontinuing
communications that violate the rules as soon as they become aware
of their presence.

More information on the new rules will appear in June QST.
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