TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with new FCC rule

Re:TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with... by x1798DE on Friday March 11, 2016 @03:13PM (#11269167)

What does that even mean? If regulators say it's illegal to comply with the license terms, you can't use products released under those terms. It's not like the GPL'd components fall into the public domain.

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Re:TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with... by iofj on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:58PM (#11271474)

There's a legal order of compliance. You don't get to break the law because you agree to a contract that stipulates you're going to break the law.

In this case, I bet the interpretation would be that if a piece of software requires you to break FCC law if sold as part of a Wifi router, then that software cannot be sold as part of a Wifi router.

Back to VxWorks in other words.

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Re:TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 11, 2016 @03:20PM (#11269210)

It means you can't license the baseband under the GPL, nor release it the public.

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Re:TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with... by sangnoir on Friday March 11, 2016 @05:43PM (#11270087)

> It means you can't license the baseband under the GPL, nor release it the public

...within the jurisdiction of the US Government. Have a look at libdvdcss for guidance on how such a baseband might be developed and distributed.

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