On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:12:58 -0400, Dee D. Flint wrote:

What on earth is/was the "Eye bank net"? Sounds like an interesting
story. I did a google on the subject, and got one relevant hit, that
oddly enough was on some porn site in Estonia! So I'd rather get the
info somwhere else, eh?

If my memory serves me right, they facilitated communications regarding
items related to medical needs for the human eye. I never knew the details
though.

The shortcomings if the Internet. You have to look in the right
places:

INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT TO WHICH AMATEUR STATIONS SHOULD BE
USED ON BEHALF OF NONAMATEUR ORGANIZATIONS

FCC 72-895

Docket No. 19245 RM-1687

Released: October 11, 1972
Adopted: October 5, 1972

REPORT AND ORDER

BY THE COMMISSION: COMMISSIONER JOHNSON DISSENTING;
COMMISSIONER REID ABSENT.

2. The Notice of Inquiry was the proximate result of Sec.
97.39 which prohibits certain organizations from both
obtaining an amateur station license or having an amateur
operator use his station on behalf of those organizations.
One of the effects of this Rule is to prohibit amateur
operators from using their stations on behalf of such
parties as the EYE BANK, American Red Cross and the March of
Dimes as well as commercial businesses.

8. We are adding a new section, Sec. 97.114, which will
both probhibit commercial third party traffic and clarify
the permissible international third party traffic. As to
the provisions of subparagraph (a) concerning international
third party traffic, these rules simply incorporate the
already existing international rules. As such they make no
change in permissible communications and they are therefore
considered to be of an editorial nature. Subsection (c) of
Sec. 97.114 prohibits corporations, companies, associations
and other organizations engaged in commercial activities
from using amateur radio facilities. It will not prohibit
the use of the Amateur Radio Service on behalf of
organizations such as the EYE BANK and the American Red
Cross except for traffic which relates to the regular
business affairs of those organizations. Subparagraph (b)
will prohibit amateur control operators or station licensees
from receiving any compensation including a salary or
reimbursement for non-collect telephone calls for operating
an amateur station for transmitting or delivering third
party traffic. This provision explicitly sets forth the
fact that both domestic and international amateur traffic
must not be handled with a pecuniary interest in mind.


27 RR 2d 1202, 480 F2d 1288
No. 896, Docket 72-2229

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

April 11, 1973, Argued
June 13, 1973, Decided

The sole issue properly before us on this petition to review
a newly promulgated regulation of the Federal Communications
Commission, 47 C.F.R. Sec. 97.114(c) (1972), which prohibits
use of amateur radio station facilities for transmission of
business communications, is whether the regulation violates
the freedom of speech provision of the First Amendment and
the anti-censorship provision of Section 326 of the Federal
Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. Sec. 326 (1970). We hold that
it does not.

We deny the petition to review.

The rule making proceedings that led to promulgation of
Section 97.114(c) were initiated by a petition filed
September 15, 1970 by the Amateur Radio Section, Industrial
Electronics Division, Electronics Industries Association
(the Association). The petition sought an amendment of
former Section 97.39 of the FCC regulations, 47 C.F.R. Sec.
97.39 (1972), which prohibited non-amateur organizations
from holding an amateur station license and from using the
facilities of amateur licensees. 3

Despite the unambiguous language of Section 97.39, amateur
stations had been used for communications on behalf of
certain non-amateur organizations such as the Red Cross and
March of Dimes. Such use went largely unchallenged because
there was general agreement that such organizations were
meritorious. Recently, however, there had been a
proliferation of non-amateur organizations which sought to
use amateur stations for less meritorious purposes. In
response to requests for interpretation, the FCC denied use
of the ARS on behalf of such meritorious organizations as
the EYE BANK and the United Fund. This led to the
Association's rule making petition, referred to above, in
which the FCC was requested to amend its restrictions on
third party traffic by permitting messages in assistance of
certain enumerated "non-profit public service" organizations
and activities.

The upshot of the change reflected in Section 97.114(c) 4
was to effect a compromise between total prohibition of
third party traffic and total allowance of third party
traffic. The FCC recognized that total prohibition would be
inconsistent with the expressed purpose of "recognition and
enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the
public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service."
47 C.F.R. Sec. 97.1(a) (1972). On the other hand, total
allowance would produce unmanageable congestion in the
amateur frequency bands. The solution adopted was to
prohibit only commercial messages which had long been
considered inappropriate in the ARS, although not expressly
forbidden. As a result of the rule change, public service
organizations such as the EYE BANK and American Red Cross
are able to use ARS facilities except for communications
which facilitate the regular business or commercial affairs
of those organizations.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

Phil Kane wrote:
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:12:58 -0400, Dee D. Flint wrote:


What on earth is/was the "Eye bank net"? Sounds like an interesting
story. I did a google on the subject, and got one relevant hit, that
oddly enough was on some porn site in Estonia! So I'd rather get the
info somwhere else, eh?


If my memory serves me right, they facilitated communications regarding
items related to medical needs for the human eye. I never knew the details
though.


The shortcomings if the Internet. You have to look in the right
places:

INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT TO WHICH AMATEUR STATIONS SHOULD BE
USED ON BEHALF OF NONAMATEUR ORGANIZATIONS

FCC 72-895

Docket No. 19245 RM-1687

Released: October 11, 1972
Adopted: October 5, 1972


Wow Phil, thanks for the in-depth answer!

Whereas I think that some outfits were unfortunately affected the
ruling makes sense. What one person thinks is meritorious, won't
necessarily be so for the next person.

- Mike KB3EIA -

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 20:11:05 -0400, Mike Coslo wrote:

Wow Phil, thanks for the in-depth answer!

Yer welcome.

Whereas I think that some outfits were unfortunately affected the
ruling makes sense. What one person thinks is meritorious, won't
necessarily be so for the next person.

A couple of years later, some space cadets at NASA's Goddard Space
Labs near Washington DC persuaded the Commission that retransmission
of NASA communications to and from the space shots on an amateur 2-m
frequency was in the public interest even though it clearly violated
the black-letter rule. "Oh yes", the nabobs replied, and so amended
the rules. Myself and two other colleagues whose hobby was chasing
and photographing railroad trains tried to get the same retransmission
permission for the comms which we monitored in OUR hobby, and we were
told "shut up and play"....

Life isn't always fair....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane