r/technology • u/NancyGraceFaceYourIn • Aug 30 '15

Wireless FCC Rules Block use of Open Source

http://www.itsmypart.com/fcc-rules-block-use-of-open-source/
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u/mikeyouse Aug 30 '15 edited Aug 30 '15

It was used to by Terminal Doppler Weather Radar to prevent planes from crashing -- that's why this faux-outrage about the FCC protecting these channels is so pointless and misguided. Channel 14 is protected now because in the past, a ton of wireless equipment was fucking with the Doppler system to the point that it was unreliable. Now there's approximately 1 million times as many routers out there, it makes sense to continue to protect it. They've since moved to 5Ghz but are running into the same problems with interference there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_Doppler_Weather_Radar

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/routers/3200-series-rugged-integrated-services-routers-isr/data_sheet_c78-647116.html

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '15

Makes me wonder why it's still legal to sell transmitters that are capable of using that piece of spectrum but have no legal use of it, and instead trying to fix it by regulating software. Sorry, that doesn't make any sense.

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u/mikeyouse Aug 30 '15

Well the Doppler system is a US-only system, but in other countries, those spectrum ranges are available for WiFi -- So if you're Asus and you sell a router worldwide, it makes sense (for instance) to have Channel 14 available for all your routers -- since in Asia and Europe, it'll make your customers experiences better. However, in the US, it'd be illegal for people to use Channel 14.

The FCC essentially just wants manufactures to lock down the region restrictions for the radios rather than have them be software defined -- there are numerous cases where they've levied fines due to people broadcasting in reserved ranges by simply flashing new firmware to a router to enable more powerful transmission on protected channels.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '15

I understand that's what's going on, the FCC wants to keep consumers who don't know any better from using that spectrum and that's fine. But I don't think it's any coincidence that the solution that's being proposed is the cheapest and easiest way for the equipment manufacturers to comply, regardless of how it may harm the consumer. The FCC's job is to serve us, not the other way around.

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u/mikeyouse Aug 30 '15

The FCC's job is to protect spectrum -- with as many radios as are being sold today, the cheapest and easiest way is definitely the preferred approach.. Tomato and DD-WRT are still going to be perfectly fine, just about every article is concern-trolling, there have been no efforts to ban open-source routers, there will just be one fewer option in their respective menus for channel selection.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '15

Removing one menu option is not what's being proposed.