By: Mike Montgomery
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is developing a nasty habit of passing rules that end up doing more harm than good. These rules may initially be well intentioned but the end result is that some certainly stifle innovation. We’re seeing a very clear example of that right now in the Wi-Fi router industry.
Last year, the FCC put rules in place to stop people from messing with the radio frequencies (RF) inside Wi-Fi routers. They wanted to make sure that the RFs didn’t interfere with things like medical devices and weather radars. They didn’t mandate that router boxes be locked to all modifications, but they also didn’t think through the potential ripple effects of the mandate.
In response to the new rules, a router company called TP-Link went ahead and locked its boxes to all outside modifications, which could have a chilling effect on future innovation. The reason — it was too difficult to block users from one part of the box (the radio frequencies) and give them access to other parts of the box. It was easier and cheaper to just block users from tampering with the software all together. When customers complained, TP-Link told them to call the FCC.
This might seem like an obscure incident that only hard-core tech enthusiasts would care about but it points to a larger problem. The FCC is quick to make decisions that might work politically but don’t work practically.