> For a lot of wifi cards (dunno about Intel's) it's regulatory - they
> can't sell cards that can be easily modified to exceed FCC limits, so
> they limit it in a binary firmware. If they gave away the source,
> people could easily modify the card to exceed the legal output power,
> and thus they can't give away source.
This sounds like another cheap excuse: I cannot believe that the law
really says that *Intel* is responsible if *I* modify an Intel WiFi card
so that it exceeds regulatory limits... If there indeed is a law like
this in some jurisdiction, well, the law should be changed ASAP.
Intel should be able to sell easily-reprogrammable WiFi cards: if *I*
modify one card and exceed regulatory limits, I should be seen as the
*sole* responsible.