another linux platform platform

kenneth marken k-marken at online.no
Fri Jul 27 07:01:19 CEST 2007


On Thursday 26 July 2007 17:23:02 Tim Newsom wrote:
> I just noticed this:
> http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5539544742.html
>
> They claim to have many of the features we have talked about on the list...
> however, I am wondering about the "pending patent" related to placing
> security in the bootloader for signature checking of a boot image.  Does
> anyone know if this is available GPL or if they have somehow managed to get
> around all of that?

i think the issue here is a kind of crossroads.

at the one hand open source people want to thinker with as much as possible of 
a device.

but at the other hand, every nation that have at least some form of working 
government wants some control over whats going on across the EM spectrum.

therefor one need a way to verify that a device complies with the regulations.

one way to do that is by signing the software so that only if it comes from a 
known "good" source, its allowed to be used.

another, used by fic in the neo, is to embedd the stuff that generates the EM 
waves inside a chip that cant be reprogramed.

as long as the linux kernel and all the other code used is under GPL2, there 
will not be a problem with this. but if some of its under GPL3, they either 
have to look for alternatives, or drop this function.

thats one potential problem with the FSF, it attacks the act of signing, no 
matter why its being used. with tivo its used to enable the content producers 
control of their products. but on a phone its just as much about being able 
to use them at all. because a EM emitter is also a jammer, and can 
potentially block all other uses of a frequency if its not behaving.




More information about the community mailing list