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EU's Plan To Ban Sale of User-Moddable RF Devices Draws Widespread Condemnation (theregister.co.uk)
Reader simpz writes: The Register is reporting that the EU is looking to block users from tinkering the firmware/software of their RF devices. This seems to have been very under reported, with a fairly short consultation period that has now expired. It could force manufacturers to lock down phones and routers etc to stop you from installing the likes of Lineage OS or OpenWRT. The way this is written it could stop devices like laptops or Raspberry Pi's having their software changed. From the report: The controversy centres on Article 3(3)(i) of the EU Radio Equipment Directive, which was passed into law back in 2014. However, an EU working group is now about to define precisely which devices will be subject to the directive -- and academics, researchers, individual "makers" and software companies are worried that their activities and business models will be outlawed. Article 3(3)(i) states that RF gear sold in the EU must support "certain features in order to ensure that software can only be loaded into the radio equipment where the compliance of the combination of the radio equipment and software has been demonstrated." If the law is implemented in its most potentially harmful form, no third-party firmware could be installed onto something like a home router, for example.
Every week the EU plans something that draws widespread condemnation (usually because it's tyrannical). Glad I don't live there.
It sounds like it's just meant to not allow users to control the radio tranmissions, similar to how in the US the radio device has to be FCC-approved, and you can't for instance boost your CB power to 50 watts. If software allows you to turn your router radio up to 11 (like DD-WRT) does, perhaps it is just that component of it they want to control?
12:50 - press return.
Won't this just create a market for mail-order devices from other countries, just like the DVD region lockdowns did?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Then it would not be useful as it could not inter-operate with anything else? Laws like this - and the similar regulation that went through the US about 2 years back are the result of too many a*holes flouting the regulations and either Tim Tayloring (more power) their transmitters or having them transmit on other bands which they are not supposed to. If people wouldn't do that crap, rules like this wouldn't be needed. Just like you wouldn't need "do not touch" signs in museums if people could keep their grimy hands off of things. But they can't. So we can't have nice things. Because people.
It sounds like it's just meant to not allow users to control the radio tranmissions, similar to how in the US the radio device has to be FCC-approved, and you can't for instance boost your CB power to 50 watts. If software allows you to turn your router radio up to 11 (like DD-WRT) does, perhaps it is just that component of it they want to control?
There is a difference between "type accepted" and the sort of power I have as an amateur or professional. A Citizens band radio is a low powered unlicensed service. I an allowed to modify or build anything. But hey - if the EU says this is a great thing, the good citizens will comply.
Sounds like the Volksradio is coming back, as the EU starts to demand and enforce complete conformity, and obedience to their benevolent governance. And sure enough, they are out defending this in the threads.
So go ahead and mod me down, good compliant citizens. Differing opinions are dangerous.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Yes, it's overly dramatic bullshit that has no effect on the elections, where people can prevent this crap,
That's the difference between the EU and other places - no amount of elections can "correct" what the EU chooses to do.
It's cruel dictatorship by committee, so no one person is actually responsible for the suffering the machine generates.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
...because if everyone can "mod" the devices to let's say "outside" their designated frequency range, we're in for real trouble on the airwaves.
Before the non-radio amateur crowd thinks I'm on the "powers that be" side here, then I've got to tell you where I come from on this. I've been building and modifying radio transmission equipment pretty much all my life as an hobby, and a wet dream of mine as a kid, was to freely be able to build any kind of transmitter and receiver I wanted to, regardless of laws and regulations, but that's not very practical in the real world, the only way to do this legally (and even know what you're actually doing) is to become an electrical engineer with a degree in RF technology, or become an licensed radio amateur, why is that you might ask, you might even ask what the relevancy here is, well, it's not simple to explain - but I'll try my darnedest to explain it:
Imagine you have a piece of equipment that CAN go outside its designated range, and you mod it so you can transmit on a broader range, say - increasing the bandwidth so you can get more throughput and cover more frequency "ground" so to speak.
This can and will create all kinds of hell for existing communication devices, maybe even those used for emergency, alarm systems, medical equipment and much more.
The reason there's an requirement for a technical license to even be able to operate in certain bands (especially with modified devices, modified by you and other experimenters) is that through that technical knowledge you'll gain by becoming a licensed radio amateur, you'll learn how to deal with making filters to prohibit spurious emissions to leak through your own equipment, you'll also learn respect for design and how to avoid making serious mistakes on the airwaves, whether this is digital or simply as in the olden days "analog" with speech / Morse-code (which is very similar to digital transmissions, except, very slow and ..old), you'll respect the band-plans already put aside for experimental use (which you're free to use, under respect for the rules, as long as you actually know what you're doing).
Now, imagine you modified a transmitter to cover so much of the bands that you interfere with medical equipment in a nearby band (frequency), now we have a real problem on our hands that can actually cause lives to be in danger, even if you don't notice anything yourself. You'll be creating all kinds of confusion for those using this equipment, and eventually get caught by your country's FCC team who constantly monitor all frequencies for unauthorized traffic, interference etc. It's hard to explain this to laymen who doesn't know the technology behind this, it's no joke - there are entire careers made out of understanding RF spurious / parasitic emissions, especially those designed in SOHO devices that has to meet the strictest FCC rules in order to be released to the market. Even small modifications can create equipment to misbehave, and you'll have equipment that no longer meets the criteria for acceptable spurious emissions into our wide spectrum of band-plans.
Radio amateurs have for the longest time, been the pioneers of such technology, and there's a reason we're allowed to do experiments like this, because we're qualified to do so (not everyone of course, some I've met, sadly - doesn't even understand the basics, but - at least they had to go through a long course learning about the basics, so they'll at least keep within the legal boundaries of what they CAN and CAN NOT do on the air).
Now - modify the software of your routers ALL you want, this isn't the issue, the issue is when you start modifying your hardware (especially the RF part) to go beyond what it was designed to do, even if you're good at coding - doesn't qualify you to be a RF technician that fully understands this, and this can be a dangerous combo).
RF interference is a real thing, and it's dangerous - only proper knowledge can remedy this, and there must be certain requirements met to ha
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
It's the same old story, just a different scope. There are billions of already locked down devices on the market today. Yet, creative souls keep finding ways to break all those devices free. Worst case scenario, you can buy some old, easily breakable devices on eBay or from a pawn shop. It's not like they all area going to disappear from the market any time soon.
Except, they don't. You're presuming that Chicken Little is correct about the basic premises of the situation. He isn't.
The radio IC already has its own firmware, separate from the application controller. That is true even if you buy them on the same chip, as with many of the offerings from Nordic Semi. This is about the firmware that controls the radio itself; the part that already is a binary blob you install that allows the radio to work. It isn't about the ARM processor that runs the application firmware that you, as a consumer, think of as "the firmware."
Of course you know that as a licensed amateur radio operator in the United States, one has frequency privileges near and inside the 2.4 GHz ISM band. You can quite legally modify a home router for Amateur Radio use.
As long as you aren't in a country where that wasn't suddenly rendered illegal, that is.
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
As a Licensed Radio Amateur you should know that even a Receiving device can generate spurious products if you mess with the firmware.
And no, a Router is not a receiving device.
Thankyou for an extremely good response - anyone messing about with RF for educational purposes is great, but, as you consider, interference is a real concern and some way to introduce that person to bandplans, licensing, and all the regulated stuff that makes it slightly less fun, but still worthwhile would be good.
Unfortunately I suspect short of a 'want to mess with this and learn stuff? become a ham!' labels on everything, it will be an uphill struggle!!
I remember radio theory in high school (early 90's) was very limited to a simple microwave demonstration with a low power waveguide and some metal rods which you could rotate to demonstrate polarisation (etc). 1 lesson. It's a shame, but there's a lot to cram in in the curriculum.
73'
People are making a fuss out of nothing..
Since day one, if you wanted to use radio equipment it had to be Compliant.
And if you modified it, it was no longer Compliant.
So if you want to modify compliant equipment, it is up to you to have it re-certified.
Unless you are a licensed Radio Amateur. Then you can self-certify the continuing Compliance of your Ham gear.
Old phones (esp. pre-2008) were "single processor" -- they used the same CPU for BOTH the radio AND running general software.
Not those Motorola phones. They absolutely had a separate radio processor, which did have its own firmware. It was just technician-flashable, and the technician tools were readily available on the internets.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The problem with frequency hopping is it’s hard to keep it from stepping all over someone else’s allocation.
The problem with crypto is it’s hard to tell it from jamming signals.
Why is this a bad combo? Because you’re jamming the radio gear used by lots of deep-pocketed companies at once. Someone will be able to make life unpleasant enough for the FCC to motivate them to track you down.
If you’re going to do FHSS and encryption, don’t be an idiot - keep it in an ISM band.
El Reg has never shown a pro or EU bias in its entire existence.
It tends not to show any biases at all, if you ignore the more recent occasional anti-male article from its San Francisco office.
Basically they hate everybody and operate with all of the cynicism you'd expected and desire from anybody in journalism or IT.