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FCC Allows Mix-and-Match Wi-Fi Antennas
Glenn Fleishman writes "We just filed a story at Wi-Fi Networking News about how the FCC recently and quietly approved rules that will allow the legal use of the Pringles can and other antennas. Currently, it's clearly illegal--even though it's incredibly easy--to swap out a manufacturers' antennas from a Wi-Fi access point with an antenna of your choosing. It's legal to sell antennas; not legal to deploy them. Call it the switchblade kit rule: legal to sell, but don't assemble. The FCC's new rule provides a middle ground: a manufacturer can certify their hardware with the highest gain legal antennas of each type (yagi, omni, etc.) and then end-users can swap in antennas of equal or lesser signal characteristics. It's an important move because it removes the potential for community wireless and individual users to be prosecuted for illegal antennas once new certifications are in place."
We can use whatever gain antenna we wish so long as standard (60 cm) thick igloo ice can contain the signal.
Trolling is a art,
Just what i need, a cell phone with a pringles can duct taped to it.
JULES -- okay now, tell me about the WiFi bars?
VINCENT What so you want to know?
JULES Well, WiFi is legal there, right?
VINCENT Yeah, it's legal, but is ain't a hundred percent legal. I mean you can't walk into a restaurant, take out your laptop, and start downloadin' away. You're only supposed to download in your home or certain designated places.
JULES Those are WiFi bars?
VINCENT Yeah, it breaks down like this: it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it and, if you're the proprietor of a WiFi bar, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, which doesn't really matter 'cause -- get a load of this -- if the cops stop you, it's illegal for them to search you. Searching you is a right that the cops in Amsterdam don't have.
JULES That did it, man -- I'm fuckin' goin', that's all there is to it.
VINCENT You'll dig it the most.
I did get a cease and desist letter from Pringles. They said that use of the chip container was not licenses for commercial use. Although Wilson sporting goods said that use of their tennis ball container was okay. Check with your alternative antennae provider for doing any wi-fi mods.
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Apparently if you're going to stab someone, it's gotta be with a switchblade. It seems that authorities believe that criminals are too fussy to be carrying around any other kind of knife.
It seems strange to me that a switchblade is illegal, but folding knives are sold widely. What the hell? Does the fact that it automatically pops out somehow encourages criminal acts?
"Oh yeah, I saw gonna stab that bastard, but unfolding my knife takes so much effort. So I just let him go. That foo' was lucky I didn't have a switchblade, 'cause I would have gutted him."
The guidelines say its ok, as long as the antenna isnt shaped like a breast.
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He got a *lot* of flack for condemning Janet Jackson for flashing her breast.
Imagine if it had been janet reno...
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