Feds snub open source for 'smart' radios

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: July 7, 2007 6:37:25 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Feds snub open source for 'smart' radios

[Note:  This item comes from reader Ken DiPietro.  You'll find the  
new FCC rules  here: <http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/ 
7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/07-2684.htm>.  DLH]

Feds snub open source for 'smart' radios

By Anne Broache
<http://news.com.com/Feds+snub+open+source+for+smart+radios/ 
2100-1041_3-6195102.html>

Story last modified Fri Jul 06 08:10:42 PDT 2007

Mobile-gadget makers are starting to take advantage of software- 
defined radio, a new technology allowing a single device to receive  
signals from multiple sources, including television stations and cell  
phone networks.

But a new federal rule set to take effect Friday could mean that  
radios built on "open-source elements" may encounter a more sluggish  
path to market--or, in the worst case scenario, be shut out  
altogether. U.S. regulators, it seems, believe the inherently public  
nature of open-source code makes it more vulnerable to hackers,  
leaving "a high burden to demonstrate that it is sufficiently secure."

If the decision stands, it may take longer for consumers to get their  
hands on these all-in-one devices. The nascent industry is reluctant  
to rush to market with products whose security hasn't been thoroughly  
vetted, and it fears the Federal Communications Commission's  
preference for keeping code secret could allow flaws to go unexposed,  
potentially killing confidence in their products.

By effectively siding with what is known in cryptography circles as  
"security through obscurity," the controversial idea that keeping  
security methods secret makes them more impenetrable, the FCC has  
drawn an outcry from the software radio set and raised eyebrows among  
some security experts.

"There is no reason why regulators should discourage open-source  
approaches that may in the end be more secure, cheaper, more  
interoperable, easier to standardize, and easier to certify," Bernard  
Eydt, chairman of the security committee for a global industry  
association called the SDR (software-defined radio) Forum, said in an  
e-mail interview this week.

The Forum, which represents research institutions and companies such  
as Motorola, AT&T Labs, Northrup Grumman and Virginia Tech, urged the  
FCC to back away from that stance in a formal petition (PDF) this week.

Those concerns were endorsed by the Software Freedom Law Center,  
which provides legal services to the free and open-source software  
community, staff attorney Matt Norwood said in an interview this week.

Still, in a white paper released Friday, the group says there's also  
good news for its developers in the FCC's rule: because it focuses  
narrowly on security-related software, it appears that programmers  
would not be restricted from collaboration with hardware makers on  
the many other kinds of open-source wireless applications. (Many  
802.11 wireless routers that are under the FCC's control already rely  
on open-source systems for network management.)

Software-defined radios--also known as "smart" or cognitive radios-- 
are viewed by some as the foundation for the next generation of  
mobile technology.

Traditional radios use electronic hardware to process signals--for  
example, to transform a particular type of radio waves into a radio  
station's musical broadcast or to screen out interference.
Expanding radio's scope

But software-defined radios put the brains of the operation into  
software that manages the signals being sent or received by the radio  
hardware. With that approach, new software downloads, as opposed to  
more labor-intensive hardware changes, could let radios do more than  
ever before.

Imagine, for instance, a single gadget that can deliver TV shows,  
terrestrial radio stations, cell phone calls and broadband, depending  
on how it's programmed; or a cell phone equipped with the  
intelligence to detect the strongest signals in a particular area and  
change the phone's settings to subscribe to them, regardless of  
whether they belong to a GSM, CDMA or some other type of network.

Although the software-defined radio industry has generally found  
welcoming treatment on the FCC's part so far, some security experts  
said the agency's recent take on open-source software is unjustified.

[snip]



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