First small steps toward free GSM firmware

Ian Stirling Ian.stirling at mauve.plus.com
Wed Oct 16 11:44:34 CEST 2013


On 10/16/2013 10:13 AM, Balint Szente wrote:
> What is not clear for me is that can a software be FSF/OSI "free" but 
> illegal to use? 

In principle, one can take osmocombb through your local approvals 
process, and get it approved for use in your country.
It may also be legal to use in certain circumstances, for example one of 
the US bands for ISM - sort of
open-access - is the same as one of the EU cellphone bands. Many 
cellphones will use this band happily
in the USA.
And if you can get the approval of the local government, it can be 
entirely fine.

Pretty much the same with encryption - PGP is not legal to use everywhere.
That doesn't make it not free software.



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