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A few weeks ago, we covered news that the FCC was because rules that could ban the use of third-party router firmware. The FCC has issued new typhoon rules that would prevent customers from making changes to certain radio settings that would let for operation outside of certain parameters. Typically these restrictions are designed to prevent multiple devices in the same geographical area from overlapping and conflicting with each other.

The FCC has now revealed more details on these new policies, which could theoretically be read to prevent the installation of all third-party router firmware. The FCC's initial order specifies, for instance, that programs like DD-WRT should non be allowed, which is part of why people have been concerned about new restrictions in the first place. According to the FCC, manufacturers don't need to lock out tertiary-party firmware — they simply demand to prevent the 3rd party firmware from changing settings the FCC doesn't let consumers to change.

The chief concern has been that third-party manufacturers like Belkin, Asus, and Linksys might simply interpret the FCC's dominion against changing some settings equally a apartment ban against third-political party firmware installation. The FCC told Ars Technica that the device in question must be protected from flashing a tertiary-party firmware "that would modify the RF parameters in a way that would take the device out of compliance and cause harmful interference."

FCC

The text of the order that mentions DD-WRT

Whether or non that's going to happen is an open question. Yesterday, Eric Schultz, head of the Prpl Foundation (We've covered their developer efforts earlier), notes that while the FCC appears to be mandating some type of DRM system for wireless radios, it's going to be very hard to implement in practice.

"Call back a device includes the software which controls radio frequency parameters. In the case of Linux, radio frequency parameters are controlled in drivers which are part of the kernel. The only mode to guarantee that a 3rd political party exterior of the manufacturer's control, which includes the user who owns the device, tin can't modify these parameters is to prevent unauthorized modification and replacement of the commuter which is in the kernel. And remember, in Linux the driver may utilise shared functionality inside the kernel. So how practise you lot do that without restricting modifications to the operating organisation itself?"

As he notes, there are minimal reasons for an OEM to go to the trouble of supporting a router that tin use third-party firmware and at present, much higher confined required to implement such support. Locking the firmware birthday is much simpler. And while the FCC says no one has notified information technology that they will do so, Ars does notation that a number of older routers accept recently been patched with updated firmware that implements signature checking and ostensibly prevents third-party updates.

Undoubtedly the user community will hack their way effectually some of these restrictions, but this could exist the start of the cease for open router firmware, unless the FCC changes its guidance or companies run across plenty value in offering back up for DD-WRT or its equivalents to go to the problem of locking downwards the radio.