HAM Radio Operators In Belarus Arrested, Face the Death Penalty (404media.co)
- Reference: 0180634440
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/21/2018229/ham-radio-operators-in-belarus-arrested-face-the-death-penalty
- Source link: https://www.404media.co/ham-radio-operators-in-belarus-arrested-face-the-death-penalty/
> The Belarusian government is [1]threatening three HAM radio operators with the death penalty , detained at least seven people, and has accused them of "intercepting state secrets," according to [2]Belarusian state media , independent media outside of Belarus, and the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna. The arrests are an extreme attack on what is most often a wholesome hobby that has a history of being vilified by authoritarian governments in part because the technology is quite censorship resistant.
>
> The detentions were announced last week on Belarusian state TV, which claimed the men were part of a network of more than 50 people participating in the amateur radio hobby and have been accused of both "espionage" and "treason." Authorities there said they seized more than 500 pieces of radio equipment. The men were accused on state TV of using radio to spy on the movement of government planes, though no actual evidence of this has been produced. State TV claimed they were associated with the Belarusian Federation of Radioamateurs and Radiosportsmen (BFRR), a long-running amateur radio club and nonprofit that holds amateur radio competitions, meetups, trainings, and forums.
Siarhei Besarab, a Belarusian HAM radio operator, [3]posted a plea for support from others in the r/amateurradio subreddit. "I am writing this because my local community is being systematically liquidated in what I can only describe as a targeted intellectual genocide," Besarab wrote. "I beg you to amplify this signal and help us spread this information. Please show this to any journalist you know, send it to human rights organizations, and share it with your local radio associations."
[1] https://www.404media.co/ham-radio-operators-in-belarus-arrested-face-the-death-penalty/
[2] https://nashaniva.com/385810?ref=404media.co
[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1qi1ic2/comment/o0phb13/?context=3&ref=404media.co
Spying? (Score:3)
There is probably more to this that the allegations. My guess is they are trying to send a message, maybe that they are big and powerful so don't fuck with them?
The only difference between equipment access for amateur radio operators and the general public is the freedom to transmit RF signals, which is not usually what you want to do if spying. For spying on radio signals all you need is a SDR receiver, with a KrakenSDR you can even do passive radar tracking of aircraft. However just receiving a signal is not enough to intercept state secrets if they are properly encrypted. Even off the shelf consumer grade P25 radios can't, currently, be cracked if configured and operated correctly.
Maybe they are worried about the ability to freely communicate outside the countries borders but amateur radio is hardly the best way to do anything controversial these days. It was a great way to communicate 20+ years ago, now it just a fun hobby. The problem is amateur radio is broadcast and unencrypted. If you are doing something suspect you are far better use encrypted communications over TCP/IP and there are plenty of cross border ways to do that without amateur radio.
It's not really about spying (Score:2)
It's about providing the outside world information about the regime's abuses. The 'spying' excuse is just that - a convenient reason to do the arrests.
Re: (Score:2)
Governments can shut down telecoms easily. That’s why ham radio scares them. They can’t control the RF spectrum.
It's sad (Score:3, Insightful)
I used to read these kinds of stories and think things like "I'm glad I don't live in a place where the government can do things like that." By "that," I mean making a public example out of people with zero evidence, and likely zero recourse for the people in question, all to intimidate the population it should be serving.
Fast forward to today, and that sort of thing has become so blatant and so obvious, that it doesn't always make the news.
And to top it all off we have the insanely high levels of hypocrisy involved, as Trump was screaming from the rooftops for 4 years how everything was unfair and how the then-current administration was weaponizing every bureau it could against him. You know all that stuff Biden's people gave him a few light slaps on the wrist for for doing obvious and blatantly illegal shit.
Re: (Score:2)
> I used to read these kinds of stories and think things like "I'm glad I don't live in a place where the government can do things like that." By "that," I mean making a public example out of people with zero evidence, and likely zero recourse for the people in question, all to intimidate the population it should be serving.
> Fast forward to today, and that sort of thing has become so blatant and so obvious, that it doesn't always make the news.
> And to top it all off we have the insanely high levels of hypocrisy involved, as Trump was screaming from the rooftops for 4 years how everything was unfair and how the then-current administration was weaponizing every bureau it could against him. You know all that stuff Biden's people gave him a few light slaps on the wrist for for doing obvious and blatantly illegal shit.
For example, ignoring all the abuses by ICE and DHS, Trump wants to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook "for cause" simply because he (his administration) *said* she (allegedly) misstated something on a mortgage application years before she was appointed to the Federal Reserve (noting that the bank still hasn't complained) - without giving any due process or allowing her to challenge the assertions. At the moment, SCOTUS seems dubious, even the conservative justices, and of the expedited review: [1]Supreme Court app [scotusblog.com]
[1] https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/01/supreme-court-appears-inclined-to-prevent-trump-from-firing-fed-governor/
The Authoritarian Glossary (Score:2)
Straight from the dictionary of dictators the world over:
treason : noun , enabling the local populace to observe the reality of the rest of the world
espionage : noun , enabling the rest of the world to observe the reality of the local populace
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
Yeah, and we did we found massive fraud from 2020-2024.
Am I a traitor? Am I a spy?
If anything, the people who orchestrated the 2020 election should be shot as traitors, and the spies should be hung from the neck until dead.
They are the traitors. The people who stole our government, installed a puppet president, and again "fundamentally changed' this country.
Fixing it is putting panties in wads because each illegal deportee is one less Democrat vote, one less fraud recipient.
And fuck your incoming downvot
Listening to radio is now a crime (Score:2)
If you broadcast any national secrets on open radio, unencrypted, it is YOU that are committing the crime, not the people listening to them. You have to be a special type of stupid to broadcast state secrets on open radio and then arrest the people listening to them.
I could see a charge if he decyrpted a secret code. (but I would laugh at them for making one that easy to decrypt.)
This is the real problem with dictators. When they do something stupid, they try to arrest other people for their stupidity. S
Brutal (Score:1)
Awful to hear, especially as a license holder.