The Software Freedom Law Center recently issued a detailed statement analyzing a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding wireless devices. Though there are many interesting points in the paper, the big news here is that the FCC has said that devices that have firmware that is designed to be modified or replaced by outside developers or users will have to go through a special certification process. That may sound bad at first, but consider the fact that a few wireless network chip manufacturers have claimed that they cannot release their hardware documentation or firmware interface documentation to open source driver developers because FCC regulations forbid it. That excuse is no longer valid.
The FCC is a part of the U.S. federal government that regulates broadcast signals. The basic purpose of the FCC is to ensure that the people who send out signals are doing it in a way that doesn’t interfere with other broadcasters. Without any regulation in this area of technology, radio signals would be complete chaos, and wireless communication would be subject to unending interference from other sources. As it is, it isn’t perfect, but it works well enough that most of us take things like standardized radio and television stations for granted. When we pick up our cell phones and make a call, we expect that they will communicate at the right radio frequency on the right network.
Wireless networking devices use radio signals to communicate, and the frequency and signal strength limitations are determined by the FCC. Though many people would prefer to have a stronger signal so that they can expand the reach of their wireless access point, that could adversely affect your neighbors’ wireless networks, and nearby cordless telephones that use the 2.4GHz frequency. There’s one area where the FCC screwed up — putting wireless network cards on the same frequency as cordless phones. If your wireless signal dies every time your phone rings, now you know why.
The FCC decision quoted above states that it will not govern software developers who make wireless firmware or drivers, probably because it is impossible to do so. Rather, the new regulation stance the FCC is taking is to ensure that devices made to accept open source firmware cannot be made to violate its FCC-determined signal specifications. This won’t stop you from buying an open device from another country and messing with the wireless signal frequency and strength on your own, but that’s always been illegal.
So I’m left wondering what the new excuse for keeping device firmware proprietary and hardware documentation secret will be. How will the battle for wireless network drivers and firmware proceed now? Realistically I think the usual suspects will continue to remain closed to open source developers, though I’d like to hope that things will change with some of them. The companies that need to have better firmware distribution and hardware documentation policies are Intel, Marvell, Broadcom, Atheros, and Texas Instruments. Keep that in mind if there are alternatives from Atmel, Ralink, and Realtek available to you.
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Copyright 2007 JEM Electronic Media, Inc. No reprints without written permission.