The FCC is taking comments until Sep 8th on the following rule: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/kdb/forms/FT … p;switch=P which would ban firmware modifications on all devices with a 5GHz radio. Which could mean that OpenWRT could not continue to be developed legally for most, if not all newer routers.

There is a campaign at https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Save_WiFi/ … l_Comments to post comments on the FCC rule. Please make your voice heard if you think this shouldn't happen.

FCC rules are invalid in europe, so tell me, how many fucks do i look like i give about this shit..

dont bother.. theyll do it anw.. see ACTA.. just close your eyes and continue to be a slave.. nigro

I guess you didn't notice this then:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ … 32014L0053

can you point an article.. thats an entire book you linked.. 40 pages to cover up commercial theft..
nice of them for using should.. that means lots of articles are toilet paper (should of could of would of )

(Last edited by makarel on 2 Sep 2015, 22:23)

LOL I wonder if the politicians have a clue what they are doing.
I can't imagine that anyone actually is going to try to understand that twisted double talk.

I only read the first page and that already seems to disagree with itself. LOL

If the politicians want to improve things, then I can tell you THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GO.

It's time to start building a new technology FREE from the ground up and claim our own radio band?
The UHF VHF band should be ok. And also less of a health issue... TV stations are a thing of the past...

BTW the EUR-Lex document is that a good or a bad thing?  Reading Chinese makes more sense then that pollie-talk.  I like to understand it but stuff like this should be human-readable. People who write like that should be send to guantanamo... It's 'terrorrible'

Thats a very expensive 'bum scraper'
When we go to the toilet and make paper dirty it at least makes sense to do so!

BTW

this is pure lobbyist stuff

https://apps.fcc.gov/kdb/GetAttachment. … mber=39498

Even brutal enough to point exactly to the competitor they want to push off the market.
Still it is good to see that they feel a serious competition. Just sad that they could not come up with a more sensible approach.  Every self respecting company would have taken the challenge to make their product better then the competitor that is making them nervous.  It just weak to lobby them out of the way.

Guys, this shows how strong the competition really is.
All the free and open projects together are BIG together. Now it is a matter of being aware.. they might do the divide and concur strategy.   So let's not fall for that.

@stamasd:
Thanks for the head's up!

(Last edited by frietpan on 2 Sep 2015, 23:44)

thinking of it....

If OpenWRT functions conform the standards then the hardware functions perfectly legal. And since OpenWRT functions even better then the factory firmware. (Less bugs etc.) Then I wonder how they will be going to do this.

Also weird how the law ignores the firmwares that violate the GPL, but promotes the companies who do the violation.  Who are the lawyers and judges in this field?   Best to keep an eye on them, the lobbyists and the corporations with the money...

Thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response. I guess freedom isn't worth defending.

Great suggestion, I'll do it. BTW I happen to be from Romania too originally, I just live elsewhere now.

I was in Europe recently and while talking to friend, he said he had heard of some discussions about consumer grade equipment that would make it impossible for the user to configure it themselves. All control of home/consumer network equipment would be under the total control of the ISP. According to him there would be no user interface, all control/configuration of home/consumer network equipment would be done remotely by the "ISP".
Plus there was also rumored to be some discussion about making it a criminal offense to even look inside the equipment.

I have not been able to confirm either of these stories. But as the saying goes where there is smoke the tends to be fire.

I think that the European Union take over American laws with small changes, as already since always, when it comes to bad laws for consumers. That's why now is the time, to buy a good router with OpenWRT support. I have piles of money invested in my new router, even though I could buy for half that.

no need.. one can always convert a full blown PC into a router

That may be true, but it may not help as the whole idea behind the discussions is to ensure that only approved equipment is used.
On a practical note, have you tried to buy a PC lately. Around here computer stores are disappearing like snow in summer.

all equipment is approved.. all they want to phase out is user modding
and dont think for a second thy wont rob you

btw an iphone is 50$ in china and 600 in america.. same with any device.. is that good business or what.. do they love consumers or what

guys, please make sure you go to this link

https://www.federalregister.gov/article … ss-devices

and leave a comment. Whether you're from the US or not. This issue will ultimately affect all of us.

PS. Love the blazing fast operation of the forum!

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ … mp;from=EN

Article 3 par 3. i

As far a I understand that means manufacture have to us DRM, to ensure only tested firmware can be installed on the devices. And if a device doesn't come with OpenWrt pre installed. There will be no tested OpenWrt version.

(Manufacturers could decide to only lock down the radio part. But I doubt that this will happen)

With other words it will be not permitted to sell wireless router in the EU where the user is able to replace the firmware with one not tended by the manufacturer.

I think there should be a big announcement about this on the main page openwrt.org

(Last edited by googol-1 on 3 Sep 2015, 15:26)

Interestingly enough if you read this and the FCC stuff, these rules will apply to any device that has radio equipment in it.
In the FCC stuff they specifically mention Routers, cell phones, PCs, Tablets, Wireless remote controls, appliances .... basically anything with WiFi capability. Plus the definition of software is very broad. According to one person I talked to about this it could easily be interpreted to include all software installed on the device including applications. Essentially the manufacturer/vendor will be able to control what software you can use and how you can use it.

In addition the ability to configure/reconfigure the device may be restricted, and again the definition of what maybe configured is very broad and could be interpreted to include any aspect of the devices operation - privacy, tracking ....

As I said in an earlier post, the rumor mill has it, there would be no user interface allowed for configuring such devices everything would be done by the vendor/service provider.

If these changes go through, and I don't see much opposition, it puts the whole idea FOSS out of business.

(Last edited by zzz2002 on 3 Sep 2015, 17:20)

Heise News is reporting about it (in German)

I was caught by surprise the the EU has already passed a directive outlawing hardware in 9 months time. I guess it's time to stockpile TP-Link hardware...

the world needs $$ to cover big enterprize theft especially the americans
but then if you pay.. theyll steal more

(Last edited by makarel on 3 Sep 2015, 20:15)

Just make sure you use TOR, noscript.net, disable reporting to firefox (TOR browser forgot that!!) and check the don't track me option in preferences.
etc.

So let me get this straight, u see 'gov' and 'federal' in an url and so that must mean its a big scary NSA gov tracking service?

You, sir, are ridiculous.

And the basis of the OPs post, is pure hyperbole, openwrt is not going anywhere, all the fcc is saying is make sure the wifi firware part of the soc is not able to operate outside of the unlicensed frequencies, you guys know there more to firmware besides, what your flashing to your devices, right?

(Last edited by xnn on 3 Sep 2015, 21:07)

That may be the intention of the FCC and EU directives.
Unfortunately, because of the loose wording which leaves plenty of room for interpretation, the software industry could use it to lock the doors. This is not new they have been trying to do this for years, encrypted UEFI ring any bells.

If you own a late model cell phone you may know that any attempt to modify the firmware breaks the hardware and voids the warranty. In some cases it disables features or downgrades security.
Now they may feel that they have official sanction to just kill your device if try to tamper.

Moreover, although I think the rumors I have heard on this are ridiculous but if they are true then tampering with such electronic devices may become a criminal offense.

I don't know when, where or how the NSA poped up in the conversation.

Stockpiling equipment may not be an option.
The regulation may apply not just to new equipment but to existing equipment, that may be the intent of the 9 month delay.
Time to get everyone to upgrade.

.gov lost all my trust this year.

There is way too much .gov funded surveillance crap out there.  Better be safe then sorry...
Sure it is ridiculous, I know but if you are not an American then you are just wildlife at the wrong end of a shotgun...  I have nothing against American citizens just don't trust the current govnerment and it tentacles. EU gov isn't any better either for that matter.  And also not saying that everyone who sits behind a .gov desk is evil. Though the good guys will have to do a lot of work until the trust is restored a little.

That second fcc document (the one that refers to dd-wrt) feels very much like a lobby action to me.
The legal lingo well. I don't think that is the best way to talk about technical issues.  Regulating technical issuIs with legal lingo is like opening a banana with a hammer.   I hope you are right, you probably are, and if you can trust this that's great.   

To me, when Legal speak and lobby are in one document then that does not feel right at all.
English is not my native language, and the legal speak is hard to consume.

As always stuff like this should be read 2 times, 1 time to figure out what it intends to do and then 1 time to find the loopholes....  I'm going to try to fully read the European document in the first way to figure out what it intends to accomplish and what the reason is of doing all this.

I'll keep my thoughts for myself a bit longer this time... Maybe I spoke too soon....

You might want to stockpile the devices that come with OpenWRT by default. 
Then it is no problem to upgrade them with bug fixes etc..  Or would these rules force us to run those devices without firmware?

I'm learning OpenWRT also because my ISP's brand new modem 'stopped working' and it looks very much bricked.  My ISP gave me a new one. And i'm still waiting for permission to have a closer look at ithe faulty one myself (the modem is still from them, I did not have to pay for it but I did not have to send it back either...)