[Ham-80211] Municipal WiFi Meets Free WiFi]

[RussellHltn]

>>> However, using Part 97 rules in your own 
Wi-Fi network excludes the use of any wireless security or encryption, 
short of MAC address filtering (please, correct me if my assumption is 
incorrect). <<<

I haven't kept up, but I believe that's incorrect.  My understanding is that
you may use encryption if you publish the key somewhere.  I think ARRL even
had one suggested for use. 

Keep in mind the Part 97 regs do not prohibit encryption, but "obscuring the
meaning".  If the key is published publicly, then it is no longer obscured.
It also sounds to me like encryption for purposes of authentication are
permitted.

Given that Part 15 and Part 97 devices run on the same frequency and the
same mode, one purpose for running encryption is to prevent Part 15 users
from trying to connect to Part 97 users.  It's not a perfect system, but
arguably better then what we have in place for use of 2 meter repeaters.