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111 lines
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111 lines
5.4 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2017-12-12">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Radio Lockdown: Current Status of Your Device Freedom</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Radio Lockdown: Current Status of Your Device Freedom</h1>
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<p> For more than two years the Free Software
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Foundation Europe has worked on the issue of <a
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href="/activities/radiodirective/">Radio Lockdown</a> introduced by a
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European directive which may hinder users to load software on their
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radio devices like mobile phones, laptops and routers. We have informed
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the public and talked to decision makers to fix critical points of the
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directive. There is still much to do to protect freedom and IT security
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in our radio devices. Read about the latest proceedings and the next
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steps. </p>
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<div class="right" style="max-width: 506px; width: 25%;">
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<img src="/activities/radiodirective/img/radiolockdown-cage.jpg" alt="a bird cage with a router and a mobile phone imprisoned, both sending radio waves" />
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</div>
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<p>In 2014, the European Parliament passed the <a
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href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32014L0053">Radio
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Equipment Directive</a> which, among other regulations, make vendors of
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radio hardware responsible for preventing users from installing
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software which may alter the devices' radio parameters to break
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applicable radio regulations. While we share the desire to keep radio
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frequencies clean, the directive's approach will have negative
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implications on users' rights and Free Software, fair competition,
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innovation and the environment – mostly without equal benefits for
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security.</p>
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<blockquote>[R]adio equipment [shall support] certain features in order
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to ensure that software can only be loaded into the radio equipment
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where the compliance of the combination of the radio equipment and
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software has been demonstrated.<br />
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– <strong>Article 3(3)(i) of the Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU</strong></blockquote>
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<p>This concern is shared by more than 50 organisations and businesses
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which signed our <a
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href="/activities/radiodirective/statement.html">Joint Statement
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against Radio Lockdown</a>, a result of our ongoing exchange and
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cooperation with the Free Software community in Europe and beyond.</p>
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<p>The Radio Equipment Directive was put in effect in June 2017, but
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the classes of devices affected by the controversial Article 3(3)(i),
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which causes the Radio Lockdown, have not yet been defined. This means
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the directive doesn't concern any existing hardware yet. The definition
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of what hardware devices are covered will be decided on by the European
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Commission through a delegated act and is expected to be finished at
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the earliest by the end of 2018.</p>
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<blockquote>
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The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance
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with Article 44 specifying which categories or classes of radio
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equipment are concerned by each of the requirements [...]<br />
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– <strong>Article 3(3), paragraph 2 of 2014/53/EU</strong>
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</blockquote>
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<p>However, that list is already being prepared in the <a
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href="http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3413">Expert
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Group on Reconfigurable Radio Systems</a>, a body of member state
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authorities, organisations, and individuals whose task is to assist the
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European Commission with drafting the delegated acts to activate
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Article 3(3)(i). The FSFE applied to become a member of this committee
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but was rejected. The concerns that the members of the Expert Group do
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not sufficiently represent the civil society and the broad range of
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software users has also been raised during a <a
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href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20171121-1430-COMMITTEE-IMCO">recent
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meeting in the European Parliament</a>.</p>
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<p>Nevertheless, we are working together with organisations and
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companies to protect user freedoms on radio devices and keep in touch
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with members of the expert group. For example, we have shared our
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expertise for case studies and impact assessments drafted by the group
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members. We are also looking forward to a public consultation phase to
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officially present our arguments and improvement suggestions and allow
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other entities to share their opinion.</p>
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<p>All our activities aim to protect Free Software and user rights on
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current and future radio devices. This is more important than ever
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since only a few members of the expert group seem to understand the
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importance of loading software on radio devices for IT security, for
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example critical updates on hardware which is not or only sporadically
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maintained by the original vendor. We will continue our efforts to make
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decision makers understand that Free Software (a.k.a. Open Source
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Software) is crucial for network security, science, education, and
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technical innovation. Therefore, broad exceptions in the class
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definition are necessary.</p>
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<p>Conducting such lengthy policy activities requires a lot of
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resources for non-profit organisations like the FSFE. Please consider
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helping us by joining as an <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">individual supporter
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today</a> or a <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">corporate donor</a> to enable our
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work.</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="radiodirective">Radio Lockdown</tag>
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<tag key="policy">Policy</tag>
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<tag key="european-commission">European Commission</tag>
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</tags>
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<author id="mehl" />
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</html>
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