[SGVLUG] 4 Days Left to Comment on New FCC Regulations

[Jess Bermudes]

For those who haven't heard, the FCC is considering some new regulations
regarding the certification of certain electronic/radio devices. One of the
more alarming aspects of the proposed regulations include the requirement
to lock down software-defined radio systems cryptographically so that their
firmware may not be modified to transmit outside of the legal bands. While
this sounds like a good idea in theory, these new requirements have some
broad-reaching implications for consumers.

Since most Wi-Fi device manufacturers (including routers) use
system-on-chip integration where the CPU and radio controlling circuity are
on the same chip to reduce costs, to lock down the radio firmware is to
lock down the CPU from running any modified code.

This effectively means that consumers would be prevented from installing
custom firmware on said devices, and this would include things like running
Linux-based DD-WRT, OpenWRT, or other after market firmware. While this
solves the FCC's concern about illegal transmissions, it ultimately harms
the consumer by preventing them from using alternative open source router
firmware that can give users better control over their device security with
personally-created or community-created updates since device manufacturers
are notorious for not providing security updates for older products when
exploits are found.

The FCC is requesting comments from the public on the proposed regulations
and you can leave a comment online here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/08/06/2015-18402/equipment-authorization-and-electronic-labeling-for-wireless-devices

The EFF, FSF and other organizations have put together a wiki page with
more information on the proposed changes:

https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Save_WiFi
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