[Fsf-friends] Non-free device drivers

Ramanraj K ramanraj.k@gmail.com
Fri Apr 22 09:12:12 IST 2005


   ,----[ Vivek Vaghese Cherian wrote:]
| I do agree that helping the community by writing driver code is indeed
| the proactive way of handling this issue.
|
| 1) What are the existing laws in India that support the customer
| against unethical pratices like not disclosing sufficient information
| about hardware registers that force one to waste time on "reverse
| engineering" ?
|
| Any URL containing the relevant laws would be of additional help.
|
| 2) What is the name of the appropriate authority to complain to
| against the unethical practice of not disclosing sufficient
| information about hardware registers that force one to waste time on
| "reverse engineering" ?
|
| I feel this info would be vital not only for me but also to countless
| other victims of hardware vendors not disclosing sufficient
| information about their hardware.
`----

The TRIPs Agreement  made provisions for LAYOUT-DESIGNS (TOPOGRAPHIES)
OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS  and pursuant to it, we  have the Semiconductor
Integrated Circuits  Layout-Design Act, 2000  that deals with  most of
the issues involved  here.  _IF_ a card is  registered under this law,
then it should  be fairly easy to  get to the details (under  S. 87 of
the Act, the documents are  open to public inspection). Also, note the
following:

http://164.100.24.167/bul1/203/09122004.htm
<quote>
  A copy each (in English  and Hindi) of the following Notifications of
  the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department
  of  Information Technology),  under section  96 of  the Semiconductor
  Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000

(1) S.O. 277 (E) dated the  1st March, 2004, appointing Dr. K.S. Chari
     Scientist  'G',  Department  of  Information  Technology  to  hold
     additional  charge   of  Registrar  of   Semiconductor  Integrated
     Circuits Layout-Design.

(2) S.O. 278 (E) dated the 1st  March, 2004, appointing the 1st day of
     May, 2004,  as the date on  which the provisions of  section 3 and
     section 5 of the said Act shall come into force.

(3) S.O. 279  (E) dated the  1st March, 2004, establishing  a Registry
     which  shall be  known  as the  Semiconductor Integrated  Circuits
     Layout-Design  Registry  (SICLDR)  and  specifying that  the  head
     office  of  the  Semiconductor Integrated  Circuits  Layout-Design
     Registry  so established  shall be  located in  the  Department of
     Information Technology,  C.G.O Complex,  Lodi Road, New  Delhi and
     the   territorial  limits   within  which   such  office   of  the
     Semiconductor  Integrated   Circuits  Layout-Design  Registry  may
     exercise its functions shall be the whole of India.
</quote>

But,  mostly  the vast  majority  of cards  in  the  market may  *not*
registered as above.   In such cases, it should be  enough to write to
the concerned manufacturer asking for  details, or even ask for driver
source code  written in  C. If polite  requests do not  yield results,
then, the most efficacious remedy  would be to insist upon your rights
as a "consumer" before the Consumer Forum for relief, including claims
for damages, if any.  Of course, under the Consumer Protection Act,
"Consumer" does not include a person who obtains such goods for resale
or  for any commercial  purpose.  But,  "commercial purpose"  does not
include use by a consumer of  goods bought and used by him exclusively
for   the   purpose  of   earning   his   livelihood,   by  means   of
self-employment.

Most Acts are  available online at http://indiacode.nic.in/sht.asp and
a search for "Consumer Protection Act" returns a text file of the Act.








More information about the Fsf-friends mailing list