[Battlemesh] Radio directive again, consultation of 'experts' running till 22 May 2020

[Caleb James DeLisle]

Answered.

Couple of the comments I left, maybe inspiration:

There is a serious fraud and data protection risk if software is not updated promptly, so called 
"unpatched devices" are the single greatest vulnerability for hackers to pray on. Therefore it is 
very important that manufacturers are able to quickly push software security updates without 
regulatory intervention. However, not all manufacturers are dedicated to long term software support 
of the devices they sell - leaving consumers to choose between replacing a device which ostensibly 
works, and potentially creating a security vulnerability in their home or workplace network. 
Therefore the accessibility of 3rd party operating system and driver software is critical to fraud, 
data protection and overall cybersecurity.

FOSS projects create a large amount of releases for many platforms (many of which have been 
abandoned by their manufacturers), getting regulatory compliance for all releases on all platforms 
would overburden low budget teams which develop them.
Secondly, FOSS software often finds itself in competition with proprietary software developed by the 
hardware manufacturer who have in the past used technical measures to stifle such competition. So it 
is foreseen that hardware manufacturers may attempt to guide the RRS regulatory process to further 
stifle competition against their pre-packaged software.

Communications protocol software developers, especially FOSS, tend to be heavily focused on 
correctness and compliance, so clear guidelines, self-regulation and assistance (including sponsored 
compliance auditing and development for popular FOSS projects) can be highly beneficial.

The fraud, data-protection and cybersecurity risk from of manufacturers who create devices which are 
not consumer-upgradable and then neglect to offer security patches to publicly known vulnerabilities 
in a timely mannor should not be overlooked.


On 31/03/2020 20:40, Benjamin Henrion wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The Radio directive is showing its teeth again, there is a
> consultation of 'experts' running till 22 May 2020:
> 
> https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/TargetedConsultationReconfigurableRadioSystems
> 
> Read the context as well:
> 
> https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/39982/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native
> 
> There was a public consultation a year ago, I guess they will ignore
> it like the FCC did in the US.
> 
> Remember that research in mesh is mostly only possible because we have
> open source radio drivers.
> 
> Best,
> 
> --
> Benjamin Henrion (zoobab)
> Email: zoobab at gmail.com
> Mobile: +32-484-566109
> Web: http://www.zoobab.com
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> Instead of explicitly seeking to sanction the patentability of
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