FCC and EU declare war

Werner Almesberger werner at almesberger.net
Thu Sep 3 18:31:47 UTC 2015


Heise published the following article today (in German), describing
that the EU is basically implementing a ban of non-closed software
on any device that uses the wireless spectrum:

http://www.heise.de/netze/meldung/Funkregulierung-Angriff-auf-alternative-Software-2803189.html

This follows precedent by the FCC, affecting the 5 GHz band
(interestingly, Google and FCC themselves currently find the
document at apps.fcc.gov, but all the links lead to what's
basically an error page, announcing a maintenance downtime
on September 8):

http://www.heise.de/downloads/18/1/5/7/9/4/3/6/GetAttachment.pdf

This article explains the background ...

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20150831/07164532118/no-fcc-is-not-intentionally-trying-to-kill-third-party-wi-fi-router-firmware.shtml

... yet, "the easiest thing for us to do is lock down all the
middleware" could be pretty much described as the sum of our fears.

This seems to be a major land grab, basically evicting open soft-
and hardware from the radio spectrum.

How do we fight back ?

- Werner



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