Dan N8FGV said
Mark's original point is still a valid one and has not been addressed... An amateur-built bent pipe transponder in geosynchronous... orbit will be vulnerable to the same sort of unlicensed abuse... how exactly do we protect it from this sort of abuse?
This may have been worked to death, but the discussion quickly changed to '-wish we had a GEO-', then came back around to '-how do we protect-'. It's not like we are gonna arrive quickly at a perfect solution.
It has always seemed to me that some of the best protection we have had, is in the simple fact that a moving target is less likely to be of value or interest to pirates. Our feeble low-powered, fast-moving, doppler- shifting transponders are not very attractive targets for freeloaders. Just like internet hackers, they are not interested in a 386 w/4MB ram. Something like an antique Navy GEO with lots of power is an easy mark.
I'm not suggesting we only deploy obscure low-power LEO birds, but the higher we push the frequencies, and stay in motion, the less attention we attract. As much convenience as GEO offers, it would also bring a following of pirates. A GTO like AO-13 that requires at least scheduled pointing, would likely not be seen as such an easy mark. A small flock of APRS birds like BobB mentions would probably not appear of much interest to pirates either.
No easy answers, but maybe we can avoid making it too easy to hijack. Thanks /;^)