[ale] Wifi regulatory daemons

[Jim Popovitch]

On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 20:42 -0500, Brian D. Pitts wrote:
> Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org> writes:
> Just what is the need for wifi regulatory daemons (ie: ipw3945d)?
> 
> The regulatory daemon is responsible for controlling and configuring
> aspects of the hardware required to operate the device within
> compliance of various regulatory agencies. 

Who are these regulatory agencies (FCC?) and how does the (closed
source) daemon know when/why/what to do?  Is it based on my IP address,
the AP I connect to, or what?   Does it behave differently in different
countries or geographic regions?  Finally, can I defeat having to use it
so that I don't have to run a closed source application?

Tia,

-Jim P.