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
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