This is my take on the subject as a person who has worked professionally in FM radio regulatory compliance in the USA.
The FCC's approach to regulation of the electromagnetic spectrum is that it is a "common good", i.e. it is rivalrous but non-excludable. In their view, nobody has a right to use the spectrum in the USA. They grant licenses to use it, and they can tell you how to use the spectrum you are licensed to use.
Apparently, there were documented problems with WiFi radios being operated outside of their licensed parameters and interfering with safety critical airport radar systems.
It's probably too late to persuade them to change their minds. The public response to this topic was voluminous. They received way more comments than they usually do, but they still chose this approach.
If you care, you should choose to support hardware vendors that make the effort to separate the WiFi radio from the main system, allowing you to install your own firmware.
> Apparently, there were documented problems with WiFi radios being operated outside of their licensed parameters and interfering with safety critical airport radar systems.
I've never seen a report listing more than about 45 instances of WiFi interfering with TDWR, and that's counting repeat offenders. I also haven't seen a clear statement of how many of those instances resulted in impaired operation of the airport's systems, or how many of them could have been prevented with the FCCs preferred solution. Meanwhile, the FCC has shown considerable ignorance of and disregard for the consequences of imposing such strict regulations on WiFi.
It shouldn't have been hard for the FCC to make a clear and compelling case for this, with a similarly clear call to action for chipset vendors to produce products that could meet the need for secure regulatory enforcement while remaining open to all the tweaking that is outside the FCC's purview.
The FCC's approach to regulation of the electromagnetic spectrum is that it is a "common good", i.e. it is rivalrous but non-excludable. In their view, nobody has a right to use the spectrum in the USA. They grant licenses to use it, and they can tell you how to use the spectrum you are licensed to use.
Apparently, there were documented problems with WiFi radios being operated outside of their licensed parameters and interfering with safety critical airport radar systems.
It's probably too late to persuade them to change their minds. The public response to this topic was voluminous. They received way more comments than they usually do, but they still chose this approach.
If you care, you should choose to support hardware vendors that make the effort to separate the WiFi radio from the main system, allowing you to install your own firmware.