136 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
136 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2015-09-02">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>The long road from compulsory routers to freedom of choice</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>The long road from compulsory routers to freedom of choice</h1>
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<p>The router. Despite often being dusty it is one
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of the most important devices needed for using the internet or phones.
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However: Most users in Germany don’t own this device even though it
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is located inside their homes and they pay for it.</p>
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<p>At least still. Because recently the <a
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href="http://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/drucksachen/2015/0301-0400/365-15.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1">Cabinet of Germany, the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany</a>, passed a draft to abolish compulsory routers.
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So all users may use a different device from the one the provider delivered
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and they may modify it freely.</p>
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<h2>What are compulsory routers?</h2>
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<p>For a long time it didn’t look as good for those who wanted
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to connect their own router to the socket in the wall. Often the
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providers don’t publish the account credentials to the customer.
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They may deny any support or block the access completely.
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This may sound like the sort of problem you want to have but it has
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<a href="/activities/routers/">enormous consequences for privacy,
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security and competition</a>. In most cases a router handles all
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telephone and internet connections. Many devices are full of
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security holes. With certain protocols the provider can control the
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router remotely. They may then alter the quality of the internetconnection
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for certain services. Alternative devices that for example use Free
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Software have privacy and security in mind. But the chances of such
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devices on such a closed market are slim at best because many users
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need to make a great effort as long as the providers don’t go along.
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This is a unjustified discrimination against users of Free Software as well as
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the producers of such Free devices. We should always maintain full
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control over the devices we use.</p>
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<p>
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The key point in the debate about router compulsion is the definition
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of the network termination point. This defines, where the public network,
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that of the provider, ends, and where that of the customer begins. This
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division should actually be the box in the wall, but many providers also
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include the provided end device. From this perspective, it is legitimate
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to deny the customer the access data for replacement of this device.
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With most cable providers, the modem first has to be registered by a
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technician in a data center. The technical reasons that supposedly
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support this requirement are in fact just a pretense and not technically
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valid. In the USA, the market is somewhat liberalised, and the portended
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mass network failures are not to be seen.</p>
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<h2>What happened previously</h2>
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<p><a href="/activities/routers/timeline.html">Since the beginning of
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2013,</a> the public debate over compulsory routers has grown,
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accompanied by the FSFE. The German Federal Network Agency <a
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href="https://netzpolitik.org/2014/routerzwang-das-intransparente-verfahren-zur-transparenzverordnung">remained
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vague (German)</a> as to whether router compulsion should be <a
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href="/news/2014/news-20140929-01.html">legally legitimized,</a> even
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after numerous hearings and workshops where not only the FSFE
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but also the majority of hundreds of statements spoke out against it.
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Eventually, the Federal Ministry of Economy (BMWi) took over at the
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end of 2014. The ministry proposed a satisfactory bill and overcame
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all necessary hurdles in the legislative process, from ratification by
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the EU Commission and the Federal Cabinet. The law is now waiting
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for approval of the Federal Parliament and Federal Council.</p>
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<p>
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We would have wished for further legal codification of user rights for
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communications devices, but the current situation guarantees a basic
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level of user freedom, at least for the intermediate term. In order to
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even reach this state, a considerable amount of work was necessary.
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As the FSFE, we built up a small team of internal and external experts,
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which has created detailed position statements for many of the
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hearings of the Federal Network Agency, which dealt with user
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freedom in the spirit of Free Software and open standards as well
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as economic aspects. Even after the transfer to the Ministry of Economy,
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we critically supervised the process in agreement with other organisations
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and drew attention to deficiencies and positive developments.</p>
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<p>
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With a modification of the <a
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href="http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fteg">FTEG (German)</a> (Law
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on Radio Units and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment) and <a
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href="http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tkg_2004">TKG (German)</a>
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(Telecommunications Law), the previous deficiencies should be remedied.
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The passive network termination point should be clearly defined, the
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operator should be obliged to provide, unprompted, the "necessary
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access data and information for the connection of telecommunications
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terminal equipment and the use of the telecommunication services,"
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and a fine of 10,000 Euro should be set in case they violate these
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information requirements.</p>
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<h2>It's not over yet</h2>
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<p>
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At the moment, the law is at the Federal Council for opinions and
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will afterwards come before the Federal Parliament for three
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readings. If the law is adopted, the approval of the Federal
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Council is still necessary to abolish the router compulsion six
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months after the announcement. In order for this to actually
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succeed, we must oversee this process and be sure that the
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proposal is not watered down. You can help us with this:
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contact your representative so that they pass this law without
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any further limitations, in order to ensure this absolute minimum
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of end-device freedom, user protection, and security.</p>
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<p>
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After that, it will also be exciting. Will internet providers be
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obstructive in supporting the use of user devices? Can all devices
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be seamlessly used with alternate routers? Will discrimination of
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some sort still take place in spite of this law? We can be happy
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about the previous successes, but this topic is too controversial
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for the friends of alternative end devices to be lulled into a false
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sense of security. For the future Internet of Things, where
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refrigerators and thermostats will be accessible via the internet,
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routers and end-device freedom in general play a more central
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role. We believe that we have not seen the last of this topic, and
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that we must establish and protect device freedom in other European
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countries.</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="routers">Routerzwang</tag>
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<tag key="de">Deutschland</tag>
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<tag key="policy">Politik</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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