Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:15:53 -0500 | From | Jeff Garzik <> | Subject | wireless geo stuff (was Re: wireless-2.6 status (25 January 2006)) |
| |
Simon Barber wrote: > In order to get FCC certification the manufacturer must ensure there is > no easy way for the user to tune to illegal frequencies. Broadcom has > done their job - it was not easy to reverse engineer their driver. Now > the cat is out of the bag. The open source driver is not illegal - > although it may be illegal to use it - since the chipset and driver were > likely certified together. I'm no expert in FCC regulation, so take all > of this with a pinch of salt.
First, kernel developers should do the best they can to provide facilities to limit the frequencies, including sane and safe defaults for the softmac cases. It just makes sense to do that, from a "friendly neighbor" and "don't operate out of spec" perspective, if nothing else. It's damned _rude_ to use channels other than the ones selected by the Responsible Authority. Some ham radio operator -- like me -- might be using that frequency to carry on a pleasant Morse code conversation with someone else halfway across the world. Linux software shalt not be rude. :)
Second, if someone takes steps to disable these safeguards we build in, that's akin to putting illegal crystals into a radio, or tuning a transmitter to police/emergency bands.
Finally, binary-only software is clearly _not_ a barrier to this sort of circumvention. Reverse engineering x86 software is a skill that's very widespread, relative to other sorts of reverse engineering. Reverse engineering tools for the x86 are very mature these days, having had two decades to grow and flourish. If the _hardware_ can be programmed maliciously, there's not a whole lot you can do about it... particularly when the hardware manufacturer chooses a method of obfuscation (x86 code) practically designed for easy analysis.
Jeff
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |