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FCC Clarifies: It's Legal To Hack Your Router (betanews.com)

Posted by timothy on from the know-your-place-citizen dept.

Mark Wilson writes with an update to an earlier report that the wording of new FCC regulations could mean that it would be illegal to modfiy the software running on wireless routers by installing alternative firmwares. Instead, The commission has now acknowledged that there was more than a little confusion from people who believed that manufacturers would be encouraged to prevent router modifications. The FCC wants to make it clear that most router hacking is fine and will remain fine. With a few exceptions, that is. In a blog post entitled Clearing the Air on Wi-Fi Software Updates, Julius Knapp from the FCC tries to clear up any misunderstandings that may exist.

4 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Does this really change anything? by hidden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure. I'm glad to know what the intention of the rule is, but isn't it still likely that the easiest way for manufacturers to comply will be total lockdown?

    1. Re:Does this really change anything? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ... isn't it still likely that the easiest way for manufacturers to comply will be total lockdown?...

      Well, then it will be the manufacturers to blame, not the FCC.

      .
      If the current crop of manufacturers wimp out and lock down the devices, then I am sure some alternatives will crop up that are not locked down (besides the RF stuff). Or,you could even grab an old PC and use that as a router.

      On other forums, I've read comments about how the mod'ers want to be able to change the frequency to non-WiFi channels because the WiFi channels are too busy where they live. Those same people noted that they are not concerned with what other radio devices they would be affecting, so long as they can up the power of their access point and change its frequency. For that reason, I feel the FCC is going in the correct direction with this latest revision.

    2. Re:Does this really change anything? by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People handwaving about things getting "locked down" are a bit breathless. There is no reason companies are going to spend extra money on engineering hours to lock down stuff other than the radio gain and modulation settings.

      You're half right. Companies are not going to spend extra engineering hours on this stuff. So rather than going through and locking down specifics they'll likely just disable write and JTAG interfaces after shipping and you get a read-only device for your pleasure.

      Oh but what about official firmware updates you ask?
      I've yet to own a device that's ever received one.

  2. No one with a clue thought it would be illegal ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No one with a clue thought it would be illegal to hack your router. There might have been a few idiots spouting that but there are always idiots spouting on the Web. The issue is that certain changes - increasing your transmission power - ARE illegal and have long been illegal. The FCC is looking at putting out rules to prevent that from being possible, or at least make it much more difficult. The easiest way to implement those rules for manufacturers is to prevent the router from running anything other than the default firmware. The FCC made some changes to their wording which may or may not reduce that likelihood a bit. But the changes are largely cosmetic and the possibility of manufactures making changes which prevents users from changing their firmware is still a real concern. It may not be illegal but if you can't do it, does that really matter?