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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.

3 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 Opportunist · · Score: 4, Informative

      And the easiest way for users to give it the finger is not to buy that broken boxes and instead return to what we did in the 90s, using old computers as routers.

      It's not like you can't build computers that have similar power consumption levels as those routers, with the added bonus that you can actually remove all the parts you don't need that only pose a security risk by their mere existence.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    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.