On Thu, 1 Oct 2015 15:58:08 -0400, Rich Pieri wrote: > On 10/1/2015 2:08 PM, Matthew Gillen wrote: >> They would open themselves up to legal action from the FSF if they >> violate the GPL, and FCC regulations are not an excuse for violating >> other licenses. (although it would be amusing to see them try) > > You have it backwards. These vendors are already potentially facing $500 per > day per device fines for violating FCC regulations. The GPL won't protect > them and I don't foresee the FSF doing anything more than publishing a screed > from RMS demanding that the vendors and FCC commissioners respect "freedom". > > What the FCC commissioners care about is that 5GHz access points operating in > the US operate within their authorized power and frequency ranges. What > they're requiring is mechanisms that prevent these access points from > operating illegally so that your neighbor's access point doesn't unduly > interfere with yours and vice-versa. Or your uncle's pacemaker or insulin > pump. They aren't out to lock down your router. Quite the contrary. They > don't care what you do with it as long as it operates as authorized. > > What the various vendors do is something else. Some will take the easy path > and lock out third-party software like they've been doing for years. Others > will implement physical limits that prevent the RF systems from operating > outside of specs regardless of what software is running. > > When I wrote that the FCC could rule that the GPL is unenforceable in this > context I did not mean to suggest that they would do so or even that it is at > all likely. It's not. I wrote an absurd response to the absurd idea that some > vendors might try to use the fuck TiVo clause in the GPLv3 to circumvent FCC > regulations.
That's essentially claiming that the FCC could rule copyright _in general_ unenforceable in this situation -- the GPLvAnything is simply a copyright license. IANAL, but I don't believe the FCC has that power. The answer would simply be what Matthew said -- if the FCC goes ahead with this, router vendors will either have to establish alternative security means that would not be touchable through the firmware load or eliminate all use of GPL software from their routers. -- Robert Krawitz <r...@alum.mit.edu> *** MIT Engineers A Proud Tradition http://mitathletics.com *** Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- http://ProgFree.org Project lead for Gutenprint -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net "Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works." --Eric Crampton _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
