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Ars Technica has an article about Linksys committing to maintaining open source firmware usage for the WRT series of routers. This is a follow up to a previous story that ran when the original announcement regarding FCC (Federal Communications Commission) enforcement of 5.8 Ghz part 15 device requirements came out. At least there remains one well known product that decided to implement the requirement in a way that is consumer modification friendly. From the article:
Any 5GHz routers sold on or after June 2 must include security measures that prevent these types of changes. But router makers can still allow loading of open source firmware as long as they also deploy controls that prevent devices from operating outside their allowed frequencies, types of modulation, power levels, and so on.
This takes more work than simply locking out third-party firmware entirely, but Linksys, a division of Belkin, made the extra effort. On and after June 2, newly sold Linksys WRT routers will store RF parameter data in a separate memory location in order to secure it from the firmware, the company says. That will allow users to keep loading open source firmware the same way they do now.
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Though I disagree with this notion
Although Linksys has proven that open source firmware can still be used under the new FCC rules, it's clear that options for open source users will be more limited than they are today. Kaloz wishes the FCC had taken a different approach, one focused on punishing people who cause interference without preventing legitimate uses of network hardware.
Is the suggestion that the Doppler weather radar in use at airports is less important than getting cat pictures from the comfort of your couch and not having to run an extra Ethernet cable? Because Delta Flight 191 is why these airport Doppler weather radar systems exist at all. Do we punish before or after the crash? As well I don't think there is an appreciation for just how hard it is to find malfunctioning transmitters: it can be done but with significant amounts of work. The FCC is not funded for this level of enforcement right now. Everyone must share the very finite electromagnetic spectrum. I don't have a problem giving life and safety critical systems priority over cat videos.
As a quick experiment locate your WiFi router and check the verbiage. I'm sure everyone has seen the part 15 text but probably never paid attention to it. You will find This device may not cause harmful interference as well as this device must accept any interference received. That's because the weather radar, by design, gets to break you but you don't get to break it.
(Score: 2) by dltaylor on Saturday May 14 2016, @11:49PM
They implemented a usable solution for changing the firmware, by preserving all of the radio control data.
The headline should be "Linksys WRT Routers have workaround for FCC rules and open source firmware".
(Score: 2) by dmc on Sunday May 15 2016, @03:42AM
+1, glad to see at least one comment nailed what motivated me to log in after reading the daily digest. There is some whack psyop media/journalism spin going on with respect to technology security especially when the FCC is involved. Specifically, it is the word 'despite' in the headline that makes it a BS headline. One could better substitute the words 'complying with' for 'despite'. But perhaps the submitter tried that first and ran into a silly headline maxlength situation... I mean f'ing seriously folks - "company makes relatively minor extra effort" did not need to be sensationalized here, unless... someone is trying to spin something to diseducate the public (or succeed in getting a few extra clickbait headline victims). Do I smell the NSA around here somewhere...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2016, @10:11PM
It seems to me that there are many more people who will defend the FCC to the death, even when they violate the constitution and/or write rules that end up affecting many innocent people in a negative way. There are, of course, workarounds for these rules, but in practice, this will reduce the amount of routers that allow you to install your own firmware.