Personal Locator Beacon registration - warning text

Question

I purchased a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) and followed the link printed on its back side (beaconregistration.noaa.gov). Following the instructions on the page, I am somewhat put off by the message displayed at the registration page:

WARNING**WARNING**WARNING

This is a United States Department of Commerce computer system, which may be accessed and used only for official Government business by authorized personnel. Unauthorized access or use of this computer system may subject violators to criminal, civil, and/or administrative action.

All information on this computer system may be intercepted, recorded, read, copied, and disclosed by and to authorized personnel for official purposes, including criminal investigations. Access or use of this computer system by any person whether authorized or unauthorized, constitutes consent to these terms.

**WARNING**WARNING**WARNING

I would not consider myself authorized personnel, but I cannot see any other suitable option for registering my beacon.

Can I just ignore this message?

Answer 1

This is actually a fairly standard warning message for U.S. Government systems. It dates back to a 1986 law (Public Law 99-474) and a time when it was considered necessary to display such warnings in order for computer crime prosecutions to be successful. (Otherwise a person might argue they didn't know they were trespassing, or something along those lines.)

While it appears you can also register by mail or fax, I would have no problem using the online system to register a beacon. It is the stated purpose of the site and consistent with the directives given both on the beacon and on the noaa.gov site itself. If it helps, I would also argue that those instructions constitute authorization, though I seriously doubt you would ever have need to make that argument.