In the US anyway, there is some talk of the FCC requiring radio devices to not release their code because of "security reasons." Heard this on a podcast a while back, not sure what the current state of things are.
Aaron E-J http://otherrealm.org http://theotherrealm.org (Blog) On 2015-12-01 5:20 PM, Michael Lamb wrote: >>> This is common, and is even worse for the other single-board computer >> ??? ... I think that CHIP is not worse than that. > I'm sorry, my phrasing was unclear. I meant: CHIP is flawed, and being > flawed is common. For example, the more-popular Raspberry Pi is worse > than CHIP, because it can't even boot without binary blobs. You and I > both agree with the statements on the FSF page. > >> I think that the FSF page is relevant for CHIP (as of today). CHIP >> would not be acceptable (from the viewpoint of freedom-respecting >> computer) when you want to use its GPU and video encoder/decoder with >> full features. > I agree. I hoped that the social media person's statements contrary to > the FSF page meant that the design had changed and the CHIP is now > freedom-respecting. But from the replies here and the lack of reply > from them, I doubt this is the case. > >> When we don't use GPU and video, a board with Allwinner SoC could be a >> good computer. So, it depends if it's serious flaw or not. > I expect it will remain "seriously flawed" due to the WiFi/GPU/VPU > blobs. But maybe a "seriously flawed" but still-usable computer for > only $9 is still a good thing for many people. > > I hope that low price will make it effortless to introduce children > and students to general-purpose computing with free software. > Especially children, whom parents might discourage from using the > expensive family computer (or installing free software on it) for fear > they might "break" it. >
