For the record: the recent update to the FCC's covered equipment list *specifically* uses the definition of "router" from NIST internal report 8425A, which is as follows:
A “consumer-grade router” is a router intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer. Routers forward data packets, most commonly Internet Protocol (IP)
packets, between networked systems. Throughout this document, the term “router” is used as a shorthand for “consumer-grade router.”
#routerban #fcc
The FCC also lists this in their FAQ, concerning the recent update to the covered equipment list: https://www.fcc.gov/faqs-recent-updates-fcc-covered-list-regarding-routers-produced-foreign-countries
While I am not a lawyer, the FCC has made it abundantly clear that this rule covers "consumer-grade" routers, and therefore by omission, *NOT* business or commercial grade routers. As such, I believe various headlines characterizing this as a blanket router ban are... misguided, to use a polite phrase.
#routerban #fcc
I believe the questions to ask now are:
What is the functional difference between a "consumer-grade" router, and a business or commercial grade one.
And:
What is stopping you from installing a business or commercial grade router in your home?
I should also point out, as I am sure others have (including the FCC FAQ) that this covers *new* equipment seeking an FCC certification for use in the USA. Equipment currently on the market that is already FCC certified is totally exempt from this, because of course it is ALREADY CERTIFIED.
While I am certainly not a fan of this recent rule change, given the current availability of new and used consumer, business and commercial grade networking equipment, as well as future business and commercial grade networking equipment, I personally am not concerned with the availability of networking equipment moving forward.
While this is certainly a transparent attempt by the current adminstration to extract MORE MONEY from manufacturers by forcing them to seek exemptions from this rule change, I seriously doubt this is a vector for government mandated backdoors, especially considering that routers are only one piece of a network, auditable free and open source software is available to run on these appliances, AND routers are things you can BUILD out of computers and network interface cards.
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