[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Re: RE: Nokia 770 sources...

[From: Acadia Secure Networks]

Danny,

your point concerning radio complexity is well taken. Forbes had an 
article last  year entitled

        "Does Open-Source Software Make The FCC Irrelevant?"

Here is the url to the www page for that article for those interested:

        
http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/10/18/open-source-software-FCC_cz_df_1018opensource.html
   

Best Regards,

 

John Holmblad

 




danny_milo at yahoo.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:12:06 -0400, Andrew Barr wrote:
>
>   
>> On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 15:56 -0400, Michael Wiktowy wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Unfortunately, I don't think the waters are all that clear in this
>>> situation.
>>>       
>> No, unfortunately they're not.
>>
>>     
>>> IANAL but it is my understanding that most countries have RFI laws
>>> that do not allow RF chip manufacturers to allow their users to modify
>>> their chips to switch to licensed bands or use an amount of power that
>>> brings it into a licenseable realm. It is not just the case of the law
>>> saying that a user can't operate in certain realms ... the user can't
>>> even be allowed to *possibly* operate in certain realms. 
>>>       
>
> Give me wire, a jar and a diode and I'll build you a device that does
> exactly that in 2 minutes. Oooh radio is sooo complicated. NOT. 
> Let's outlaw wire (the most important part here - or is it the diode? :)).
>
>   
>>> So if an
>>> embedded chip is flexible enough, the manufacturers nerf it with a
>>> binary blob. 
>>>       
>
> Unneccessary, see below.
>
>   
>> The legal reasoning has been debated extensively on LKML and elsewhere
>> multiple times, but I think it's worth pointing out that not everyone
>> buys the regulation argument. That the regulations require withholding
>> source code is, as I understand it, the prevailing interpretation among
>> corporate attorneys rather than language in any particular regulation.
>> Do a search at lkml.org for the recent ipw3945 discussions for details.
>>     
>
> The law defines what people are forbidden to do. Regulations define
> how people are supposed to use shared media. Devices are not people. 
> The tool is not the wielder.
>
> Did I miss anything?
>
>   
>> In all reality the world's communications regulation agencies need to
>> address the issue of open source code and software radios with updated
>> regulations, and in the very least WLAN vendors will no longer have an
>> excuse to hide behind, should that be what they are doing--I suspect at
>> least some of them are.
>>     
>
> Yes, they are hiding, obviously.
>
> I thought we had the we-are-only-protecting-you-from-yourself laws
> scrubbed by now, but maybe I'm wrong...
>
> cheers,
>   Danny
>
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>   
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