Save WiFi/FSF extension comment
The following is a draft only and has not yet been submitted to the FCC.
Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554
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MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME
Pursuant to Section 1.46 of the Commission's rules (47 C.F.R. § 1.46) the Free Software Foundation (FSF) hereby requests a 30-day extension of the deadlines for submitting both comments and reply comments to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (rel. July 21, 2015) (NPRM) FCC 15-92, and which was published by the Federal Register on August 6, 2015 (80 FR 46900-46928). The current deadline for submitting comments is September 9, 2015 and the current deadline for submitting reply comments is September 21, 2015.
The FSF recognizes that it is not the Commission's policy to routinely grant extensions of time in rulemaking proceedings (47 C.F.R. §1.46(a)). However, a 30-day extension of both the comment and reply comment periods is warranted in this instance to facilitate a more thorough consideration of the important issues raised by the Commission. Moreover, such an extension will not burden any party or cause an undue delay in the administrative process.
The FSF is a 501(c)3 charitable corporation with its main offices in Boston, Massachusetts. The FSF believes that people should be free to study, share and improve all the software they use and that this right is an essential freedom for users of computing. The FSF has been working to achieve this goal since 1985 by directly developing and distributing, and by helping others to develop and distribute, software that is licensed on terms that permit all users to copy, modify and redistribute the works, so long as they give others the same freedoms to use, modify and redistribute in turn. The FSF is the largest single contributor to the GNU operating system (used widely today in its GNU/Linux variant in various computers and computer hardware devices). Further, the FSF's GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, covering major components of the GNU operating system and tens of thousands of other computer programs used on hundreds of millions of computers around the world. In addition, the Foundation also publishes other widely adopted licenses, including the GNU Lesser General Public License and the GNU Affero General Public License. The FSF provides educational services and educational materials about free software licensing and use of the GNU GPL and GNU LGPL to the public. Further, the FSF performs testing and certification on hardware devices, with qualified sellers being awarded the use of the FSF "Respects Your Freedom" certification mark on their devices and associated marketing materials.
Nearly all new consumer wireless devices sold in the United States will be affected by this NPRM, and it is likely that a majority of those devices will contain at least some software that is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL or GNU LGPL. The Commission's proposed rules on authorization of radiofrequency equipment may impose requirements on the software that controls radio devices that are incompatible with the terms of the GNU GPL or GNU LGPL. These same rules may also disqualify current hardware sellers from being able to be awarded use of the FSF's "Respects Your Freedom" certification mark on radiofrequeny based hardware products in the future.
The extension requested here is in the public interest because it will afford the public the time necessary to address the complicated technical and policy questions raised in the NPRM and develop appropriate responses. In order for the FSF to understand the full implications of the proposed rules and the requirements those rules have on radiofrequency device software and software licensing, the FSF needs more time for our staff, legal counsel, and expert advisors to review the NPRM.
With a deadline extension, the FSF will use this additional time to prepare our comments and reply comments such that it will address our concerns thoroughly and in a manner that we believe will be most helpful to the Commission.
The FSF understands that the Commission must satisfy certain Congressional deadlines relevant to the Enhance Labeling, Accessing and Branding of Electronic Licenses Act (E-LABEL Act). If this presents a problem for the Commission, the FSF suggests bifurcating the NPRM into separate dockets, one dealing with E-LABEL Act issues and the other with the remaining issues, with separate comment and reply comment periods for each proceeding.
Accordingly, the FSF respectfully requests 30-day extensions of the deadlines for filing comments and reply comments in response to the NPRM as set forth herein.
Respectfully submitted,
Joshua Gay
Licensing and Compliance Manager
Free Software Foundation
