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Phones evolved into pocket PCs but they were and still are primarily radios. Radios that YOU personally aren't licensed to operate, the phone manufacturer/carrier is. Open source OSs would allow users to operate those radios, which means they could develop communications using cell carrier bands without a license. Imagine meshtastic at 50x the bitrate and everybody and their grandma already has the hardware. Why would people keep paying $60/mo to have every communication recorded and given to the government?
The current telecommunications system is the most powerful mass surveillance tool to ever exist. That's not something that will be dismantled easily.
I can spend $20 right now and buy a ham radio that I have full control over and no license to operate. This ain't it.
Ham radio requires a license. You may be thinking of other services like gmrs . We get the point though.
...yes.
I can spend $20 and buy a ham radio.
I have full control over it.
I have no license to operate it.
Don't need a license to have the radio or even to use it to listen. Only need a license to transmit.
Their point is they can buy the radio and use it do to things they aren't allowed to, so why aren't those devices subject to the same restrictions as cell phones
That also depends on where you are located. Some countries are twitchier about citizens having radio equipment than others.
Correct, but to be fair they did say "to operate" which should be taken as transmitting.
That's not using it for communications then.
That's a bit of a huge stretch.
People can load custom operating systems on their computer all they want without turning their wifi and Bluetooth adapter into a two way software defined radio.
Every radio band is subject to their own rules.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmit on frequencies that are "license by rule," where the FCC license to transmit is granted to everyone who follows the Part 15 rules about the technical details. So nobody needs a separate license to use wifi or Bluetooth, and the devices themselves are only subject to certain technical restrictions, like maximum transmit power and the like.
Ham radios transmit on bands that allow for a license for anyone who can pass the test and pay the fee.
Cell phones operate on frequencies and bands that have much stricter licensing rules, and the devices are certified to follow the technical rules under pretty much all circumstances. They go through much more thorough testing than the radios capable of transmitting on amateur bands or license by rule bands.
I understand that. It's just that this entire argument doesn't qualify. The OS has no out of spec influence over the modem due to its design. Its entirely self-contained component with its own firmware and driver stack. The OS is at the mercy of the modem's firmware and that firmware prevents this exact scenario described.
Cellular carriers don't have more bandwidth, usually they have a lot less, they just use it more efficiently and reuse that same bandwdith across many cells. Something like meshtastic is great but without centralised tracking of user equipment you cant handover between cells without dropping traffic. Meshtastic uses much larger bands less efficiently.
"Less efficient" is quite a misnomer here, since the meshtastic network mainly has to work around the regulations, which leaves it only small timeframes for transmitting. When such a project can only transmit for a few minutes per hour, then naturally it has way less bandwidth overall
It "works around legislation" by using a sub gigahertz open band that wasn't designed for mobile comms. Lora was designed for low bandwidth M2M communications which is why it's allocated 13 odd MHz and in a band that's good for long range. That band is about the same size as a typical cellular carrier frequency band but as I said cellular carriers have the infrastructure and equipment to make efficient use of it, dividing it up between cells and reusing across cells. That's the only way to get high bandwidth comms out of sub gigahertz frequencies. Even then carriers also supplement their longer range sub gigahertz with higher frequency bands in denser areas.