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TP-Link Begins Lockdown of Firmware In Response To FCC

Posted by timothy on from the climate-of-fear dept.

An anonymous reader writes: In response to an FCC rule that requires manufacturers to lock down computing devices (routers, PCs, phones) to prevent modification if they have a "modular wireless radio," TP-Link has begun locking down its routers to prevent firmware not signed by TP-Link from being installed. This essentially prevents open source OSs (OpenWRT, for example) from being used on routers. TP-Link may not be a prestige brand, exactly, but the company makes a lot of routers suitable for installing third-party firmware, precisely the sort of thing being locked down makes difficult if not impossible.

5 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Except... by internerdj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Frankly, the easiest way to comply is just to lock everything down. It doesn't really matter how much the FCC bends over backwards to accommodate third party open source firmware. The ruling made it harder to make a business case for letting the end user change the firmware. Someone was bound to comply this way, probably a lot of someones.

  2. Re:WOW by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am conflicted. The same thing is happening on PC's with secure boot. It is arguable that this raises the bar for security but the down side is the fact that we lose some control over the devices we have.

    What's there to be "conflicted" about? In all of these cases, the "security" is "security AGAINST THE OWNER OF THE DEVICE," a.k.a. tyranny. It is unambiguously bad!

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  3. Re:Don't these routers have external memory? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't this a GPL violation? If any of the software they use is GPL v3 then they can't tivoize it in this way.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Re: WOW by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Another side is that, like an immunization, you are protecting the herd by making your system harder to crack

    No, stock firmware on consumer-grade hardware is unambiguously lowest-bidder buggy trash. Open-source replacement firmware is remarkably more secure. Secure bootloading insecure crap is just putting lipstick on the pig.

    Besides, the FCC said this wasn't their intent. We thought they were lying, so either they still are or now TPLink is. A shame, since I've been buying their gear lately for OpenWRT deployments, despite their annoying VLAN assignments. I can't see why they'd want to chase away customers, so I'll guess it's the FCC that's still lying.

    Open source gives the people too much power for a totalitarian regime to tolerate. Open source crypto is being attacked in parallel - neither can be allowed to exist without a regime change.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  5. Re: WOW by Gr8Apes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't see why they'd want to chase away customers, so I'll guess it's the FCC that's still lying.

    That's an incorrect presumption. It's not that they want to chase away customers, it's that to hit that checkmark to be able to sell hardware, they need to lock down the radio. Easiest cheapest way for them to do so? Lock the entire item down, or source a more expensive separate radio controller. I guess we know which way they went.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.