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Remotely Compromising Android and iOS via a bug in Broadcom's WI-FI Chipsets

(blog.exodusintel.com)
387 points pedro84 | 1 comments | 26 Jul 17 19:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.211s | source
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thomastjeffery ◴[26 Jul 17 23:00 UTC] No.14861166[source]▶
Why does Broadcom insist on proprietary drivers?

How could it possibly be detrimental for Broadcom to have free software drivers?

This article is a poignant example that it is detrimental for them to continue to keep their drivers proprietary.

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whowouldathunk ◴[26 Jul 17 23:01 UTC] No.14861174[source]▶
The drivers are probably pretty complicated and thus valuable IP.
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thomastjeffery ◴[26 Jul 17 23:15 UTC] No.14861236[source]▶
I don't buy that.

Every wifi chipset has working drivers; therefore there is little to no value in Broadcom's driver as "IP".

Contrast that to the value of having a free driver that can receive security patches from anyone at any time.

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1. londons_explore ◴[27 Jul 17 09:20 UTC] No.14863716[source]▶
Many of the "features" of a wifi chipset are implemented in drivers or firmware. QoS? Smarter packet scheduling? Better interference protection? All of those are likley in the drivers.

Competitors could review the code and "copy" how great features work without actually copying the code.