Diego Zuccato wrote: > David Newall ha scritto: > >> "Of course", because in many parts of the world, a device who's >> manufacturer fails to take reasonable steps to prevent it from being >> used outside regulatory limits is illegal. Providing source code not >> only is a failure to take those reasonable steps, but is quite the >> opposite. It may even be viewed as encouraging users to use it >> inappropriately. > If the device is well engineered, there's nothing the sw can do to > make it work outside regulatory limits.
That's naive, since requirements differ in different jurisdictions, as I'm sure you are perfectly aware. > Sometimes there's simply NOTHING the SW can do to *avoid* it. Think > about a CB radio. International standard is 5W (well, somewhere it's > 3, IIRC, but that's another story: nobody produces a special model > with a final amplifier for only 3W, everyone produces the 5W and turns > down power in some other way). Precisely: One purpose of the driver is to enforce local compliance. > But linear amplifiers are commonly sold. And (at least in Italy) it's > not illegal to buy one, even if it can boost antenna power to 1000W. > It's illegal just to USE it. In Australia it's illegal to own them (CB licensee; HAMs are allowed to use them, although not on 27Mhz.) > And it's a logical problem, too: why should the *driver* enforce a > *technical* limit? That's part of it's purpose. It permits a manufacturer to make a global device that operates within local restrictions. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-usb" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
