Chris started this thread on the subject of locked-in proprietary code in
hardware:
http://trisquel.info/en/forum/alternate-proposal-fccs-indirect-ban-free-software-require-release-code
Forty years ago I was bothered by unwanted calls that seemed to be trying to
find out when I wasn't at home (which was most of the time, as I was working
for a living then). My land-line service provider at that time offered Call
Blocking, wherein I could press a code (long forgotten ...) to identify
unwanted calls. I tried signing up for that service ... whereupon the
unwanted calls stopped ... but I hadn't actually blocked any calls ... and
after the passage of some time, the unwanted calls resumed ... but my
call-blocking code no longer worked. I asked my service provider and was told
that the blocking was dropped because I had not used it. Naturally I lost all
trust in that service provider.
Fast forward to the Do-Not-Call list. That's useless because of the forging
of telephone numbers in Caller ID and because rogue callers pay no attention
to the Do-Not-Call list.
I am now a consultant working out of my house. I cannot afford to leave calls
unanswered, as I do not know from whom the next assignment will come. I have
to answer the phone, caller ID or not. Most of the calls that come in are
from rogues and telemarketers. One rogue, pushing a Windows-repair scam, even
recognizes my voice, but continues to call anyway. In 1967 I was in Bogota,
Colombia, where the same guy tried to sell me emeralds in three different
places on succeeding days in the city. We both laughed when he encountered me
the third time.
Every electronic device that I have owned or seen has an IPv6 address unique
to that device. If I could block that IPv6 addressed device from my system
(phone of computer) then the rogue would be prevented from using that
particular unique gadget on me ever again.
"Yeah, yeah" ... you say ... "there are too many IPv6 addresses for this to
be practical, because the rogues would just spoof them and never run out."
That depends on whether or not spoofing is possible in the hardware code.
Cisco has proposed a method whereby their router tests the source of a
particular packet identified by a spurious IPv6 address:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios-xml/ios/ipv6_basic/configuration/xe-3s/ip6b-xe-3s-book/ip6-urpf-xe.html
The authors of the following paper lament (?!) the lack of any open hardware
in testing a back-door communications technique:
http://cs-conferences.acadiau.ca/ANT-2011/Proceeding/Alll%20Files/3_ANT_papers_part2/ANT_104_Najafizadeh.pdf
Will the FCC implement a rule wherein the hardwired IPv6 address of hardware
cannot be changed or spoofed and must be revealed to the recipient of any
FCC-regulated communications ? We support the use of non-proprietary code,
but that code should not allow anyone to harass or violate the privacy of us
or anyone else. Will open-source firmware enable IPv6 spoofing by a [Wi-Fi]
device ?
