FCC Goes WiFi

Newer Guy writes "Today, the FCC announced that they will offer their visitors free wireless Internet access. Here's the press release (pdf)."

Comments

FIRST POST via WI-FI

[cdf12345]

although it is my house, it is free!!

CHICAGO2600.NET

Please help me with the GPL

[Michael's a Jerk!]

As a consultant for several large companies, I'd always done my work on
Windows. Recently however, a top online investment firm asked us to do
some work using Linux. The concept of having access to source code was
very appealing to us, as we'd be able to modify the kernel to meet our
exacting standards which we're unable to do with Microsoft's products.

Although we met several technical challenges along the way
(specifically, Linux's lack of Token Ring support and the fact that we
were unable to defrag its ext2 file system), all in all the process
went smoothly. Everyone was very pleased with Linux, and we were
considering using it for a great deal of future internal projects.

So you can imagine our suprise when we were informed by a lawyer that
we would be required to publish our source code for others to use. It
was brought to our attention that Linux is copyrighted under something
called the GPL, or the Gnu Protective License. Part of this license
states that any changes to the kernel are to be made freely available.
Unfortunately for us, this meant that the great deal of time and money
we spent "touching up" Linux to work for this investment firm would
now be available at no cost to our competitors.

Furthermore, after reviewing this GPL our lawyers advised us that any
products compiled with GPL'ed tools - such as gcc - would also have to
its source code released. This was simply unacceptable.

Although we had planned for no one outside of this company to ever
use, let alone see the source code, we were now put in a difficult
position. We could either give away our hard work, or come up with
another solution. Although it was tought to do, there really was no
option: We had to rewrite the code, from scratch, for Windows 2000.

I think the biggest thing keeping Linux from being truly competitive
with Microsoft is this GPL. Its draconian requirements virtually
guarentee that no business will ever be able to use it. After my
experience with Linux, I won't be recommending it to any of my
associates. I may reconsider if Linux switches its license to
something a little more fair, such as Microsoft's "Shared Source".
Until then its attempts to socialize the software market will insure
it remains only a bit player.

Thank you for your time.

Re:Please help me with the GPL

[Anonymous Coward]

Please do your homework (i.e. use Google) , and get a knowledgeable lawyer.
For instance, there IS Token Ring support on Linux, and you don't need to release under the GPL everything compiled with GCC.

Re:Please help me with the GPL

[Anonymous Coward]

What is this? Astroturfing by software "freedom of choice" lobby? (Cheap astroturf full of holes)

Or is it those funky trolls again tickling my brain? ;)

P

Re:Please help me with the GPL

[TheMidget]

What is this? Astroturfing by software "freedom of choice" lobby? (Cheap astroturf full of holes)

No, just the usual crop of garden dwarves. The Thank you for your time is a dead give-away. Oh, and although the dwarf noticed that there is no token ring support in Linux, he forgot to mention that there is no support for mice either.

And even though he noticed that you can't defragment an ext2 fs he forgot to mention there are no virus scanners for Linux either. And no way to change the color of the bluescreen. And no dialog box to enter the license key.

Or is it those funky trolls again tickling my brain? ;)

Yes, indeed...

Re:Please help me with the GPL

[Anonymous Coward]

For instance, there IS Token Ring support on Linux,

Yes. And the reason why there is no defragmentation tool for ext2fs is that there is no need for one...

This whole article is just a deliberate accumulation of provocative statements for the sake of getting attention...

In other words: YHBT HAND.

And btw: TYFYT

6th oblivion

[Tirel]

My mind blanks as the earth reforms. I focus on the the individual particles, it must be perfect, an action which would have taken me days and completely exausted me before, now takes only a few seconds. When the structure is completed I pick her up and levitate with her in my arms one last time. I set her down in the coffin, thinking about what could have been if I came to her help a few minutes earlier. I step outside the room and order the earth to seal it. Nobody shall ever know what lies beyond this barrier, I tell it. It obeys, knowing my pain.

I form a dagger of pure crystal out of nothing. I think about what powers will be lost to humanity, how many will die because I will not be there to help them, but it is meaningless to me. She was everything to me and I lost her to my greed. It is better this way, I tell myself.

I walk outside and see the sun setting behind the hills. It asks me if I need anything, and I tell it I need guardians. Moments later, the link is broken and out of the fire come four giant fire elementals. They request instruction. I tell them to destroy this forest and then return here, forever guarding this building, never to yield to any intruders. They turn and go.

I force my body fully into this plane. Feelings of vulnerability overwhelm me, I become mortal again. I walk back into the building and the earth understands, opening the passage for me. I sit next to her, touching her cold hand. I am sorry, I think, the thought echoing through the fabric of reality, a sign of how powerful I have become. I drive the dagger into my heart feeling not pain, but relief. I am sorry, I think again, and this time I feel she is responding. Perhaps we will be together in whatever is to come, I silently say to myself. I smile as I close my eyes and submit to the darkness.

But the powers that be will not let me rest. I have been assigned the role of the deathbringer of a strange world I have never seen before, with the promise that I will be reunited with my love at the end of time. There is nothing but death for those whom I set my gaze upon, and nobody understands why I do it. I am hated and feared by them, but I do not care.

I have become a Troll.

Re:6th oblivion

[Anonymous Coward]

I live under this bridge. I ran away from home with my laptop, and i've managed to stay online with my wireless card. In order to make money, I don't let anyone pass this bridge without paying me and answering a riddle. I started running out of witty riddles so I ask directions in the meanwhile. Then I make up new riddles based on the directions.

I make obnoxious comments on Slashdot in my spare time.

This bridge is now my home. I shall call it a troll bridge

I have become a troll that lives under a troll bridge.

cool..

[THEbwana]

So they're becoming an Isp? - Great! Maybe that will give them some exposure to the legal/privacy problems arising from all those nutty anti-privacy and drm bills pushed through in Washington..

Re:cool..

[CausticWindow]

Think of the posibilities. Take a trip there, load up Slashdot and click on any link in the comments (goatse) and sue them for broadcasting indecent material.

Re:cool..

[THEbwana]

hehe.. or for concealing the identity of logged on people (by providing an anonymous service) - isn't that illegal in some states now ?
I remember hearing the brouhaha about nat'ing becoming illegal due to this.. Would be fun if the first ISP to be tried in court was the FCC :-) /m

Re:cool..

[john82]

Fortunately that won't happen in DC, afterall it's not a state you know. Which means it isn't able to provide it's residents the same rights and privleges that real states can ... like real representation in the House and Senate. 'Course, its not like we had a war over things like taxation without representation.

Oh wait, we did ...

Re:cool..

[Planesdragon]

Y'know, there's a real easy way to fix that, if you happen to live in DC.

Move to a suburb or a different city.

IMO, _no one_ should be a resident of DC. you can live there, but you should be a "non-resident resident" of some other state. Just like if you're on an overseas base, serving in congress, etc...

Re:cool..

[john82]

If you extrapolated that to "if you don't like the US, leave" the locals (Americans) here on Slashdot would have you burned at the stake.

The situation with DC is patently absurd. There are third world countries that fare better at the hands of Congress than the citizens of DC. As to your "non-resident resident" note, at the very least those who live in DC should be considered part of Maryland or Virginia for the purposes of anything larger than a citywide function and be able to act accordingly (eg. voting). But that isn't an available option. And really neither is your suggestion to move out.

Re:cool..

[Planesdragon]

As to your "non-resident resident" note, at the very least those who live in DC should be considered part of Maryland or Virginia for the purposes of anything larger than a citywide function and be able to act accordingly (eg. voting). But that isn't an available option. And really neither is your suggestion to move out.

Bullocks.

DC's a puny city--and it's got loads of suburbs. Congress SHOULD have extended the Metro out to the suburbs, and banned all long-term residential housing inside the city. If you're not posted there by the government or visiting, you shouldn't go to bed at night in the city.

Plus, it would be perfectly viable to place everyone whose a first or second generation resident of DC into one of the fifty states--and anyone else who moves in can just keep their current state citizenship. Heck, try it--I suspect that it wouldn't even take an act of congress to stay a resident of one of the fifty states and move to DC.

wow

[Pandora's Vox]

they even have wifi in their phone number. wonder what it's good for, as they "don't offer tech support?" maybe just "um, guys, can you hit the reset switch?"

-Leigh

Woohooo

[MC68040]

Now I can read my RFC's via WIFI at the FCC!

My Experience with the Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed.

I work as a consultant for several fortune 500 companies, and I think
I can shed a little light on the climate of the open source community
at the moment. I believe that part of the reason that open source
based startups are failing left and right is not an issue of marketing
as it's commonly believed but more of an issue of the underlying
technology.

I know that that's a strong statement to make, but I have evidence to
back it up! At one of the major corps(5000+ employees) that I consult
for, we wanted to integrate the shareware version of Linux into our
server pool. The allure of not having to pay any restrictive licensing
fees was too great to ignore. I reccomended the installation of
several boxes running the new 2.4.9 kernel, and my hopes were high
that it would perform up to snuff with the Windows 2k boxes which
were(and still are!) doing an AMAZING job at their respective tasks of
serving HTTP requests, DNS, and fileserving.

I consider myself to be very technically inclined having programmed in
VB for the last 8 years doing kernel level programming. I don't
believe in C programming because contrary to popular belief, VB can go
just as low level as C and the newest VB compiler generates code
that's every bit as fast. I took it upon myself to configure the
system from scratch and even used an optimised version of gcc 3.1 to
increase the execution speed of the binaries. I integrated the 3
machines I had configured into the server pool, and I'd have to say
the results were less than impressive... We all know that linux isn't
even close to being ready for the desktop, but I had heard that it was
supposed to perform decently as a "server" based operating system. The
3 machines all went into swap immediately, and it was obvious that
they weren't going to be able to handle the load in this "enterprise"
environment. After running for less than 24 hours, 2 of them had
experienced kernel panics caused by Bind and Apache crashing! Granted,
Apache is a volunteer based project written by weekend hackers in
their spare time while Microsft's IIS has an actual professional full
fledged development team devoted to it. Not to mention the fact that
the Linux kernel itself lacks any support for any type of journaled
filesystem, memory protection, SMP support, etc, but I thought that
since Linux is based on such "old" technology that it would run with
some level of stability. After several days of this type of behaviour,
we decided to reinstall windows 2k on the boxes to make sure it wasn't
a hardware problem that was causing things to go wrong. The machines
instantly shaped up and were seamlessly reintegrated into the server
pool with just one Win2K machine doing more work than all 3 of the
Linux boxes.

Needless to say, I won't be reccomending Linux/FSF to anymore of my
clients. I'm dissappointed that they won't be able to leverege the
free cost of Linux to their advantage, but in this case I suppose the
old adage stands true that, "you get what you pay for." I would have
also liked to have access to the source code of the applications that
we're running on our mission critical systems; however, from the looks
of it, the Microsoft "shared source" program seems to offer all of the
same freedoms as the GPL.

As things stand now, I can understand using Linux in academia to
compile simple "Hello World" style programs and learn C programming,
but I'm afraid that for anything more than a hobby OS, Windows
98/NT/2K are your only choices.

Re:My Experience with the Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

The ignorance & twisting is so brilliant! Aaargh... can't resist, must post.... I knew I should have never descended down to -1 level. I can't handle this. Where do these come from?

Could there really exist "consultants" having both; technological talent and 100% cluetron proof skull?

Somebody pulled these together on notepad and is now plastering them all over /. at -1 offtopic?? :)

802.11g

[error502]

The system uses the 802.11a and 802.11b protocols, commonly refered to as WiFi.

What about 802.11g? If they're supporting 802.11a, they might as well support 802.11g, too.

Maybe they figure that the 802.11b users will just slow down the network for everyone, so they won't even bother. Why not have 2 separate APs, then? One for 802.11b and one for 802.11g?

Re:802.11g

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is 802.11f not enough for you ?

Re:802.11g

[bjbrog]

802.11g is backwards compatible so you would still be able to connect there just not at 52 Mbs. If all they are giving public is the ability to access the internet and not share files between computers then there is no hope of getting speeds faster then the 11Mbs that 802.11b will give you anyway. So as of now there isn't that much of a need for 802.11g.

Re:802.11g

[Anonymous Coward]

802.11g is backwards compatible so you would still be able to connect there just not at 52 Mbs.

Not insightful at all. A major stumbling block of 802.11g is that when 802.11b users join many vendors' access points the entire network slows down to 11Mb/s.

If all they are giving public is the ability to access the internet and not share files between computers then there is no hope of getting speeds faster then the 11Mbs that 802.11b will give you anyway.

Who says so? Are you assuming the FCC is connected via ADSL or something? They sure as hell will have more than 54Mb/s of bandwidth.

Re:802.11g

[espo812]

Why not have 2 separate APs, then? One for 802.11b and one for 802.11g?

There's this thing called money that is used as a medium of exchange between people in the market place. It is valuable because it is rare and represents the value of work that is done. Incase you haven't heard, the economy is being a bit slow and the government doesn't have gobbs of it anymore (and neither do we). So to implement twice as many APs they would hate to tax me (one way or another) some more to pay for them. No thanks.

In fact, seeing the defecit we're running - why are they buying APs at all? Is this going to save me money? Is it going to increase my benefits? I'll wager no on both counts.

Re:802.11g

[O_Chaos]

Yeah, I thought that when reading the article. Seriously, who uses 802.11a??

I have had nothing but bad luck with it!

Re:802.11g

[rebbie]

To quote an AT&T ad from a few years ago, "You will."

Re:802.11g

[intermodal]

yes, yes it is. The more people who have to come into their waiting room with laptops and wireless NICs, the fewer people who complain about the wait. Mission accomplished.

Re:802.11g

[ForestGrump]

Your right about 11a.
A few months ago, my trusty 802.11b nic died on me. I was out looking for a replacement when I found one for $50 after rebate.

I figured it wouldn't be too bad. After all, I would have compatability with 11a, 11b and 11g.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find someone that uses 11a.

In short, I could of saved about 35 dollars if I went for a straight 11b nic.

-Grumpy Consumer, Forest Grump

Spammers

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems pretty ironic that the FCC, while on the one hand leading a battle against spam, would choose to offer Wi-Fi, potentially catering to wannabe spammers. But of course this won't be a problem, since in true US gov't fashion they'll obviously protect the network against this type of misuse.

Not.

Re:Spammers

[RevMike]

It seems pretty ironic that the FCC, while on the one hand leading a battle against spam, would choose to offer Wi-Fi, potentially catering to wannabe spammers.

I'm not sure that I understand this comment? I'm sure the FCC will not be connecting the access points directly to their internal network. A spammer sitting in their courtyard won't be able to access the FCC mail relay as if they were in the FCC. They'll only get "plain" access to the internet.

The spammers could run a sendmail process directly on their laptop that would route to the destination mail relay directly, but they could do this from any connection with any ISP. Does anyone filter outgoing SMTP packets? That would would be almost as bad as filter packets destined for port 80!

Re:Spammers

[87C751]

Does anyone filter outgoing SMTP packets? That would would be almost as bad as filter packets destined for port 80!

Lots of ISPs restrict port 25 connections to their own mail servers (vis. Earthlink), ostensibly to "prevent spam". And while it does raise the bar, it does not prevent spamming. It just coerces the spammer into using the ISP's mail servers from throwaway accounts.

Some ISPs are more draconian. Basic-level AT&T Prepaid Internet appears to permit only ports 80 and 443 to connect out. Their website (unavailable to outside connections, hence no link) hints at an "Enhanced Service" that permits FTP, VPN and some other goodies in return for "providing some information", but they don't tell you how to obtain it. I just put a virtual SSH server on port 80 and added a little port and X forwarding to turn the prepaid access into a usable service.

Re:Spammers

[commodoresloat]

The spammers could run a sendmail process directly on their laptop that would route to the destination mail relay directly, but they could do this from any connection with any ISP.

But not anonymously from an IP within the fcc.gov domain.

Pr0n

[Zemran]

So now I can park in their car park and dl all the pr0n and MP3s I want ?

Re:Pr0n

[GovernmentSources]

You've obviously never been to Washington, D.C. The Internet access is free, the parking is not.

Gotta love the FCC

[commodoresloat]

At present, the FCC will not request personal identifying information prior to allowing access to the wireless network.An open network. At the FCC. They want as few people as possible on the public airwaves but they'll let anyone on their private network.

Re:Gotta love the FCC

[Anonymous Coward]

This is bull. Anyone can pass a simple 35 question test and get a Technician Class Amateur Radio license and get on the public airwaves.

http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

Re:Gotta love the FCC

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm almost certain that by "public airwaves" the parent was not referring to the 2m band used only by HAMs.

Hey look, I can broadcast to other people with obscure equipment!

Re:Gotta love the FCC

[commodoresloat]

Yeah. And nobody will listen to it except other amateur radio enthusiasts. Meanwhile, thanks to the FCC, anyone who owns a newspaper in one town can now own a television station as well. The FCC's current leadership is making decisions which will lead to further media consolidation and stifle competition. I'm glad they're giving out wifi access, but I don't think it's consistent with the current administration's direction, and I certainly don't expect it to last. (Especially after some hacker uses the anonymous wifi entrance to alter the fcc.gov webpage...)

Re:Gotta love the FCC

[Alien Being]

I doubt the public APs are inside the firewall.

Re:Gotta love the FCC

[CosmicEntity]

Actually, I think it says in the press release that the wireless network is completely separate from the internal network... it really is just pure internet access.

pdf press release

[EpsCylonB]

It's nice that they provide wireless internet access so you can download the software required to read their documents.

Re:pdf press release

[afidel]

Why do you care, the software is free, heck there are even Free alternatives. You can publish pdf's with Free and free software too since Adobe made the standard open. I don't know why anyone would have a problem with pdf. It's a perfect way to do device independant publishing.

Re:pdf press release

[chthonicdaemon]

I couldn't surf the web back in the day until I had downloaded a web browser. At least the format's open and you have a few readers with your favourite distro if you use Linux. In fact, there are quite a few open source programs that can generate PDFs (I hear that KOffice is working on a feature that allows you to open PDFs in KWord).

I am very puzzled by the anti-pdf crowd on slashdot. At least it is an open format.

Re:pdf press release

[fuzdout]

More like provide free internet access so they can secretly spy on *you* :)

Damn Americans

[Anonymous Coward]

Think you're so special with your free WiFi internet access.

don't leave the foreigners out. *whimper*

Loss Leader

[RevMike]

I've always subscribed to the theory that WiFi won't be profitable as a service itself, but will be provided for free as a "loss leader".

I always assumed however that it would be coffee shops and bookstores that used it to their competative advantage.

Next time I'm in DC, however, I'm going to patronize the FCC instead of any of the other federal agencies!

Seriously, Mike Powell seems to be on the forward edge, especially for a government official. It is good to have people in powerful places that understand technology and its transforming role, who can think independantly of lobbyists or position papers generated by their staff.

Re:Loss Leader

[afidel]

It doesn't have to be free. McDonalds for instance has a WiFi system where you can order 15 minutes of access for a small fee with your meal. The register just prints a unique number that you put into the web frontend for the NAT system and it gives you a new DHCP lease which is good for 15 minutes. Works well for simply grabbing email from the office or checking out slashdot on your meal break. My friend used it for a couple weeks when he moved into his new place and the DSL transfer took forever.

Re:Loss Leader

[Anonymous Coward]

"McDonalds for instance has a WiFi system"
Is that why they call it a Mac address?

"DHCP lease which is good for 15 minutes"
That's about how long their food usually stays with me.

"Works well for simply grabbing email..."
And Ronald repackages the IP fragments as McNuggets.

Re:Loss Leader

[ubrgeek]

"Seriously, Mike Powell seems to be on the forward edge ... It is good to have people ... who can think independantly of lobbyists or position papers generated by their staff."
Are you kidding? This guy has nothing right since starting at the FCC. This is a press-release, grip-and-grin victory. This guy is in the lobbyists pockets with all of the media consolidation. Jesus, it took _CONGRESS_ to set him straight and overturn his decision.

Re:Loss Leader

[TheMidget]

it gives you a new DHCP lease which is good for 15 minutes.

That can't be correct. What's to stop anyone from manually configuring the appropriate IP address into his laptop?

Re:Loss Leader

[afidel]

Nothing but the fact that the transparant proxy uses the MAC from the DHCP pool. In fact it is only port 80 traffic which needs a code to work, my friend found this out when one day he decided to RDP into one of his servers, he got in then realized he had never authenticated the session that day!

Re:Loss Leader

[TheMidget]

In fact it is only port 80 traffic which needs a code to work, my friend found this out when one day he decided to RDP into one of his servers, he got in then realized he had never authenticated the session that day!

Good to know. Just set up your own proxy somewhere on the internet, and use that one to surf! And be careful not to spill your coffee over your laptop! (... and not to use your laptop on your ... uhmm... lap)

Re:Loss Leader

[Skynyrd]

Yeah, and it works too. When I visit my parents in rural Southern Oregon, there's six mechanical switches (according to the phone repair guy) between their house and the CO. Dialup speed is about 26k on a really good day.

On the other hand, there's a great little coffee place that has wireless service in town. No cost, no login, just good coffee and a wireless access. My parents have anice coffee maker, but I still drop $5 in the coffee shop every few days when I'm there.

Of course, if it was bad coffee, I'd be tempted to sit in the parking lot in my truck...

Re:Loss Leader

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not funny. Please stop trying.

Re:Loss Leader

[stripes]

t doesn't have to be free. McDonalds for instance has a WiFi system where you can order 15 minutes of access for a small fee with your meal. The register just prints a unique number that you put into the web frontend for the NAT system and it gives you a new DHCP lease which is good for 15 minutes.

Right, but it costs McD's more to sell you 15 minutes of access then to give it away. Since they sell it they need to find out if you bought it before they let you use it. So they need to somehow associate your WiFi card's MAC to the "small fee". I susspect they don't have you read off the 12 hex digits (48 bit address, right?) when you buy your big mac. They have to do something more complex. Like maybe provide DNS to everyone, and make a web proxy that sends any "we don't think you have payed the small fee" users to a page where they can enter in some number off of their reciept to get their 15 minutes. Doesn't sound too complex, but it is some work to design the software. Plus what if you didn't have a web browser up, you just wanted to check email? Well you can't until you use the web browser. What if your mail software needs to be kicked again after it gets turned down? And what if you aren;t a geek buy someone who has to be told how to do that the first time? Or what if McD's software crashes when it gets more customers then the contractor thought there would be and everyone has to re-enter the numbers? Or all manner of other minor problems? They all need some sort of customer support right? That's not free, and none of it would have been needed if they gave the access away.

So that "small fee" is definitly not pure profit compaired to giving the service away. It may not even pay for the cost of collecting itself. Of corse on the other hand it does keep someone who might live in "Super Cantenna" distance of a WiFi McD's from getting 24 hour free service which may well cost McD's a lot more then collecting small fees from everyone else...

So free, or small fee depends more on how worried you are about free riders, and about getting people to stay in the store longer.

Re:Loss Leader

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an article in the newest 2600 about McDonalds WiFi and how there appears to be a backdoor into it. Didn't take long to get around paying.

Re:Loss Leader

[CharlieHedlin]

But if they have an established provider such as Wayport handle it, it doesn't cost them as much to collect the fee.

Wayport had to develop the software to support wired connections in Hotel rooms a long time ago.

And the DHCP lease and DNS are let through. It will intercept the first web connection and send you to a sign in page.

I haven't used the service at McDonalds (not lucky enough to be in an area with the pilot service), but I have used pay for access service at public places such as airports.

When talking about techinical details, people should point out whether they are in San Fransico or New York, they are being handled by different providers with different software.

now if only

[mmu_man]

they would remove/change their stupid regulation that manufacturers claim forbid them to make opensource WiFi drivers...
Well some do claim to have OSS drivers, even under GPL:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS548876786 9.html , however their "driver" is only a stub to load a closedsource module, and I even wonder if they don't break the GPL by releasing a closed source driver under it.

Re:now if only

[afidel]

Cisco has full GPL drivers for their .11b cards. In fact there are two drivers, the Cisco official driver and an independant driver written by a college student who was given some tech data by Aironet before they were bought by Cisco. I believe they are working towards one for their .11a cards as well.

Re:now if only

[Chanc_Gorkon]

What reg? The only thing holding back GPL'd drivers for WiFi may be the manufacturers. The FCC won't care about device drivers. They casre about the design of the device. It would be pretty hard with software to make a WiFi card be anything but a WiFi card. Not saying it ain't possible, but highly unlikely.

Re:now if only

[mmu_man]

it's not about turning a WiFi card into a microwave hoven, it's about certification and user-allowed frequency/power mods.

In the regs, it is said that the product can only be certified if it (along with the software (driver)), can't let a user setup a power/freq combination that isn't allowed.
They usually claim that leaving the drivers OSS would show how to setup illegal emitting power on some freqs... Quite a poor excuse though.

Re:now if only

[Chanc_Gorkon]

And with exception of the different channels availale for WiFi, why would the hardware need to be changed in such a way by software to transmit somewhere else? Why complicate your driver? Just hardware lock the WiFi card and the driver just has to select a channel. There's no reason for the software to directly change he frequency beyond picking one of the channels. Also, again, where is the reg from thr FCC stating this? This is just an excuse the company uses for not providing info on their card so others can write a driver. Of course the FCC says you can't xmit anywhere but the stated freqs but again, why would a driver controll the frequency beyond picking a channel?

Re:now if only

[mmu_man]

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/ Orders/2001/fcc01264.pdf

They put the freq and power setup logic in the driver because it's simpler, and more flexible, and easier to change (like, in France they only recently freed some channels for WiFi that was used by the army) or adapt to other countries.
The problem being that accessing the hw directly the user can setup illegal configurations.

I agree that's quite much of a false excuse, but that's their point.

Re:now if only

[mmu_man]

right, it's there:
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.p l/airone t-utils-linux
(and a mirror to avoid giving personal infos to cisco: http://www.pg.infn.it/servizi/calcolo/howto/wirele ss/Linux-ACU-Driver-v2.0.tar.gz )
actually it seems to be under MPL, though there is a MODULE_LICENSE("GPL") (as many pcmcia drivers derived from Linux Card Services, which is under double license (GPL/MPL)).

Re:now if only

[Chanc_Gorkon]

AND that has nothing to do with the FCC. That's a budgetary thing within the company who made the device. Just like it's possible to make modems that are not hardware based, it's possible to have a software based WiFi card (from what you're saying, most of these are software based). Ok, a NON software based WiFI card with everything hardwired is possible to make a illegal configuration? Not as likely as a hacked software driver. I got news for you....everything under the sun that has a RF circuit in it is POSSIBLE to make it illegal. In fact, some ham rigs are able to be modded for our of band transmit and unblocking cell freqs by just pressing keys. SO, then a hardware based WiFi card is also able to be modified and so is a software based one. No, this issue with non support of OS's other then Linux because there's no money in it for them. Sure, we could buy their stuff, but then why? My WiFi card works fine under Linux. There are lists of cards that work fine under Linux(with GPL'd drivers). So why would I buy any others? It's POSSIBLE to make ANY device....software driven or not, illegal. Having a law saying that a card's software must be closed or a company using the possible illegal use of there hardware as a excuse for not releasing driver code is just that....an Excuse. If their hardware design can't stop the software from doing certain things then that's just bad design.

FIRST HARRY POTTER SPOILER POST

[Anonymous Coward]

Sirius does a Gandalf.

Someone will drop the 802.11g rate

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone's bound to drop the 802.11g rate by using an 802.11b connection into the access point since most of the 802.11g access points are backward compatible with 802.11b.

Mod parent up!

[Magic Thread]

Useful information is contained within the parent post!

check it out

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't a DC based Slashdotter pay a visit to the FCC and check it out? Is outbound port 25 blocked? I would assume it was, but they don't say in the release.

Hey, I'm going to...

[Rogerborg]

No, you're not. You're going to post something modded +1 funny on Slashdot about all the neat ways you could punish the FCC by abusing this, then you'll go back to masturbating over pictures of Jennifer Garner in your parents' basement.

If 1% of what was promised or threatened on Slashdot came to pass, we could change the world. If it wasn't for all those pictures of Jennifer Garner, eh?

Re:Someone will drop the 802.11g rate

[SlamMan]

Its an on/off option to be backwards compatible or not.

You're in Luck! Purge the GPL as follows

[Anonymous Coward]

GPL'd libraries purged of GNU virus

I have just now written a version of readline() that:

(1) conforms to the standard GNU readline() API
(2) in fact actually uses the standard GNU readline() function
(3) does *NOT* poison your code with the GPL

Because we now have the existence proof that there somewhere exists a
non-infective version of the library API ,this means that readline()
is now safe for anyone to link against without any viral contamination.

Enjoy!

Of even greater interest is that my small proof-of-concept example is
not specific to readline(). All GPL'd library code can be effectively
purged of the virus.

Freedline can be obtained Here

Rejoice!

Lousy PDF. here's the text.

[Anonymous Coward]

NEWS

News media Information 202 / 418-0500

Fax-On-Demand 202 / 418-2830

TTY 202/418-2555

Internet: http://www.fcc.gov

ftp.fcc.gov

Federal Communications Commission

445 12th Street, S.W.

Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order

constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE News Media Contact:

August 4, 2003 David Fiske (202) 418-0513

Richard Diamond (202) 418-0506

FCC Goes WiFi

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today that it would provide free wireless Internet access to visitors at its Washington, D.C. office. "When you come to the FCC, leave the cords at home," said FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell. "We're embracing the power of WiFi and the freedom and convenience of wireless Internet access it gives to consumers."

Last year, Powell directed his staff to take the steps needed to make the FCC one of the first federal agencies to provide public WiFi access. Visitors bringing their own hardware and software can use the service on the Twelfth Street, Courtyard, and Eighth Floor levels of the headquarters located at 445 12th Street, SW in Washington, D.C.

The system uses the 802.11a and 802.11b protocols, commonly referred to as WiFi. The Commission will be unable to provide technical support, and all transactions using this service are the responsibility of the visitor. At present, the FCC will not request personal identifying information prior to allowing access to the wireless network. If requested by outside authorities, however, the FCC will provide data from system audit logs to support external investigations of improper Internet use.

If there appears to be a system outage, please call (202) 418-WIFI.

- FCC -

FCC?

[hashish]

Free Content from Clowns?

you're not looking for a slashdotter

[commodoresloat]

Can't a DC based Slashdotter pay a visit to the FCC and check it out? Is outbound port 25 blocked?

You misspelled "spammer."

Re:Someone will drop the 802.11g rate

[error502]

I know, but they'll still want to support 802.11b, for all the folk who never saw the need to upgrade.

Why issue the press release as a PDF?

[webword]

Is this press release meant for screen reading or printing? If it really meant for printing, I guess that's fine, but if it is meant for online reading it is stupid to use the PDF format. Jakob has some comments on this topic, if you care. Then again, some people think he's full of crap.

Re:Why issue the press release as a PDF?

[brakk]

Because PDF is a "secure" way of distributing a document.

Re:Why issue the press release as a PDF?

[gerardrj]

Just from skimming that web page:

PDF was designed to specify printable pages.

No it wasn't. PDF is designed to be a resolution and output device independent format that maintains presentation layout despite the medium used for display.

PDF pages lack navigation bars...

This is not a function of the format, but of the author of the document. I've used MANY PDF files that have a table of contents, an index, bookmarks and hyperlinks.

...PDF documents can be very big, the inability to easily navigate...

It's just as easy for a web page to be too large to navigate easily. PDF documents can have many or just one page. The pages can be of almost ANY size.

Because PDF is not the standard Web page format, it dumps users into a non-standard user interface...

There is no "standard" web page format. There is a "common" web page format of titles up top, a navigation bar on the left and content in the center, but there are enough variations that I would not even call that a defacto standard.

...scrolling works differently...

Really? Those sure looked like scroll bars and scroll arrows to me. Scroll tab up = page up; sroll tab down=page down. What exactly is different here than ANY other standard app?

...as do certain commands, such as the one to make text larger (or smaller)...

You don't make text larger or smaller in a PDF, you increase and decrease the magnification of the document. That's the whole point of a PDF: the author can guarantee the layout unlike HTML where when the viewer changes the text size (or font or style or color or language), the page will re-flow and break the author's design.

...users sometimes close the window instead of clicking the Back button...

AHH! Now we get to the core problem! The problem is not the PDF itself, but how Internet Explorer (or other browsers) display the PDF and the navigation buttons. Frankly... If your're using your browser to display the PDF in the same window as HTML, you're missing the point. A PDF should always (IMO) be downloaded separately from the HTML and opened in a separate application (like the free Acrobat Reader, or Preview on the Mac).

In summary: what the author of that complaint page doesn't like is that authors of PDF files don't include navigation aids such as bookmarks, and table of contents. And on the user end, that most viewers of PDF files use their brower window instead of a stand-alone app to view the documents as the PDF author probably expected.

The whole reason that PDF is necessary is that HTML is a mess for presentation from the author's point of view:
1. HTML was not created for fixed, stricktly author controlled layout. HTML was created as a way for the page author to SUGGEST layout and presentation, it is up to the viewer (process and person) to ultimately decide how the HTML will be interprited and rendered.
2. HTML's "standards" aren't. I don't know of a single commercial browser on the market that FULLY and PROPERLY supports even the old standards of HTML 4.01 and CSS 2. They ALL make mistakes, miss a feature or two, or add extensions to the standards making those pages non-standard.

Re:Someone will drop the 802.11g rate

[error502]

Oops. Disregard that. I didn't see the great-grandparent to this post since I'm browsing at +1.

YFI!

[Anonymous Coward]

You have been repeat-trolled.

You have lost.

Have a nice day.

-uso.

But

[commodoresloat]

They'll all be in PDF.

Re:But

[psxndc]

Well, IANAL, but that may violate the DMCA.

psxndc

I love the FCC.

[sekzscripting]

Does a warm cup of censorship come with it?

excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I know where to go when I want to download mp3s. I bet the RIAA will have fun when they figure out who's IP address they tracked down.

Nice....

[headqtrs]

YOUR tax dollars at work....

Re:Nice....

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Yep. And for once I am happy about it. WiFi is cheap in the grand scheme of things. What they bought like 3 AP's for the DC office? That's not alot of our Tax Dollars being wasted. And for once, the FCC may have a clue!

This is cool

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll be in DC in 2 weeks for some training. I will have to check it out! :)

Slashdotting the FCC?

[jonbrewer]

Michael is turning us all into terrorists, suggesting we participate in a distributed denial of service attack on a us government agency. Thank God I'm not in the US...

Never ending copyright loop

[heyyojay]

They have just opend a can of worms. Now they are offering a service that can almost not be tracked, free for people to download music and illegal movies. If i were the guy in charge at the FCC (no offence) I would rethink this idea and change it quick because the free wifi can, and WILL be abused.

Re:Never ending copyright loop

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

They have just opend a can of worms
Cool, now I can just poke a hole in that Worm Can about 1-1/4" from the bottom, and sit across the street from the FCC using my WormCanTenna!
Bwwwwaaahahahahaha!

--

Re:Never ending copyright loop

[weave]

How anonymous are you really? Like, computers like to chatter, especially windows. Is your netbios name somehow descriptive of who you are? If there is an imaps connection into some other site so you can get your mail, you've created a trail that, with the other site's help, can identify who you are.

Or sites you browse. Like slashdot. "This page was generated by.*for (.*) \(" or something like that will lift your slashdot username. From there you can browse the person's comment history, learn little tidbits about them, all leading to possible identification.

It's difficult to stay really anonymous if someone wants to track you down bad enough...

The nice thing about wide open wifi points in neighborhoods and such is that if it's wide open, it's most likely due to user stupidity and hence nothing is going to be noticed or tracked by the user or the ISP.

I wouldn't be so quick to do anything clandestine on a federal agency wifi network, that's for sure.

Ahahahaha... Drudge Report!

[Anonymous Coward]

Quick, go look at Drudge Report! All I get in Mozilla is:

report.htm">BE SEEN! RUN ADS ON DRUDGE REPORT...

This is a rarity, but he's done this before. Probably left out an ending table tag. Wait! there's more! Arghh!

Re:Ahahahaha... Drudge Report!

[Anonymous Coward]

What? Looks ok to me in Opera. Must be your crappy browser.

Hmmm...

[stu_coates]

Honeypot?

Re:Hmmm...

[brakk]

Yes, it's actually a GIANT honeypot emulating the entire internet. They are going to track you and see what you would do if you were really allowed to access the internet.

Two words: Portability; Standards

[jstockdale]

Why release the document in PDF if it is meant for the internet? How about because the PDF ensures true to original formatting and text? Just because something is electronic doesn't mean that it can't be a document, and thats where PDF comes in; PDF bridges the gap between the printed and electronic document worlds, because it renders irrelent where, when or by whom the electronic doc is printed, or if it is printed at all. It doesn't matter whether you want to read the document on your *nix/OSX/Win/Palm/JVM, you can get a supported app that will render it appropriately and clearly for your device, regardless of resolution. Don't even get me started on Word documents being distributed instead of PDF. Additionally, PDF allows for revision history, you know exactly what document you are discussing, without the need for cross checking access dates on a webpage (which I assume would be the alternative). Especially with my background in graphics and design work, PDFs are a godsend when exporting vector work or text. This is especially true when Joe Average decides to print something off www/email. PDF = perfect print, txt/html/rtf = same print, plus the wonderful bonus of having whatever mutilations Mr. Average's printer settings and margins decide to make
/rant

RIAA

[agent dero]

I think the FCC is just using this as a ploy to draw in illegal Spammers, and Mp3 downloaders.

Don't use their network! You'll be pegged as a terrorist by those McCarthian bastards

Re:RIAA

[dentar]

The FCC doesn't care about anything but who the highest bidder is. They barely enforce any laws. Their concern is making sure all the huge corporations get all the spectrum and the little guy is shut out!

Being a Ham Radio operator, I used to have respect for the FCC, but Michael Powell is nothing more than a corporate shill.

Re:RIAA

[Kyle Hamilton]

I Agree The FCC is to weak to enforce there own rules and is to focused on corporations and not the people maybe its time for the FCC to become a democratly installed power

I hate the FCC

[mgs1000]

I'll never forgive those bastards for destroying Sealab just because Murphy was running a pirate radio station.

Won't last long...

[st0rmshad0w]

This will last about as long as it takes for someone to trace an attack back to their wifi access.

Clever Girl

[phloydphreak]

the FCC has been after phone phreaks and hackers for the past 15 years. They must keep to their word that FOR NOW users will be anonymously logged in (didnt say they would tell you if they would release a change of policy). However: the users are located within the FCC building, wherin router logs can be traced to find out exactly what each WiFi connection is doing. Once illegal activity is assured, they can simply log the wavelength of the user who sent those packets, do a scan of the building, and boom. Toast. This is not the FCC helping hackers, but bringing foolish hackers into a controlled location. Be like any other smart hacker and scan for open WiFi DoD buildings that are without a firewall and auto-log in (gotta love M$). Hellova lot easier.

wifi access at the FCC--what about the fine print?

[gordona]

Its nice that they are enabling WIFI for visitors. However, like many public policy decisions, there may be fine print buried in some other regulation, such as banning all computers and wireless devices from the FCC.

+1 Informative! Without the karma whoring!

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid fucking shit Michael Powell has done:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/j ul 2003/tc20030723_5352_tc024.htm

I could be mistaken...

[syukton]

...but I think we just slashdotted the FCC.

Is this something we should be concerned about?

Law and comercial use of WiFi

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize that this is slightly off topic, but I have been meaning to bring this up for a while. The 2.4Ghz band that WiFi operates on is designated by the FCC for non-comercial use. Recently, T-mobile and a few other companies have been setting up subscription WiFi services in which users pay for WiFi access in certin places. My question is this: If the FCC has reserved the 2.4Ghz range for non-comercial use, isn't it a violation of FCC regulations for T-moblie and others to charge for access? (Understandably, these companies could claim that they are charging for the wired bandwith and not actualy for the use of the WiFi. Does the use of WiFi anywhere in the transacion constitute a violation?)

Trend setting..?

[euxneks]

I can see this becoming a trend with many different companies and hotels. No doubt to offer their customers some satisfactory service, and just plain customer approval. I know I would choose one company/hotel over another if they gave me free access to the internet!