WASHINGTON, March 23, 2026—Today, the Federal Communications Commission updated its Covered List to include all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries. Routers are the boxes in every home that connect computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet. This followed a determination by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise that such routers “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons.”
So on the one hand, this is an absurd ban; on the other hand, whenever this corrupt USA government does anything this absurd, it usually signals the start of the kleptocrat activities.
So, whose going to come rescuse us with the CLEARLY superior technology that ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT implement the very thing the FCC is trying to protect the SMALL american from?
The United States has many close allies who manufacture routers. Seeing as how we already share intelligence and military technology, banning their routers seems... inconsistent.
The part that will make it absurd is going to come when Trump suddenly greenlights some made-in-China routers because the CEO responsible made a "donation" to a "charity." Probably the presidential library.
Practically all routers are made overseas. So unless new factories get built ASAP the U.S. is all but guaranteed to have a router shortage and a thriving grey/black market
That's missing the aspect where exceptions to the ban can be granted by the DoD or DHS, so in practice the outcome will be that effectively all routers need to appease the national security apparatus before getting FCC approval.
As a data point, Purism has worked on USA supply chain for their cell phone (Librem 5), and currently ships with mixed-origin parts. "We use US companies with US fabrication whenever possible. Most distributors are based in the US with the exception of large integrated circuits that are made in a variety of countries where those companies do fabrication (US, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan); an example is the NXP CPU we use from their fabrication in South Korea." <https://puri.sm/products/librem-5-usa/#table-of-origin>
Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495344 possibly others
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2026—Today, the Federal Communications Commission updated its Covered List to include all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries. Routers are the boxes in every home that connect computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet. This followed a determination by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise that such routers “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons.”
So on the one hand, this is an absurd ban; on the other hand, whenever this corrupt USA government does anything this absurd, it usually signals the start of the kleptocrat activities.
So, whose going to come rescuse us with the CLEARLY superior technology that ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT implement the very thing the FCC is trying to protect the SMALL american from?
What makes this ban absurd?
The United States has many close allies who manufacture routers. Seeing as how we already share intelligence and military technology, banning their routers seems... inconsistent.
The part that will make it absurd is going to come when Trump suddenly greenlights some made-in-China routers because the CEO responsible made a "donation" to a "charity." Probably the presidential library.
Practically all routers are made overseas. So unless new factories get built ASAP the U.S. is all but guaranteed to have a router shortage and a thriving grey/black market
That's missing the aspect where exceptions to the ban can be granted by the DoD or DHS, so in practice the outcome will be that effectively all routers need to appease the national security apparatus before getting FCC approval.
Right, hence the toplevel commenter's bit about "it usually signals the start of the kleptocrat activities."
Wonder which companies will present gold-plated routers to Trump in order to get around this.
Are there any consumer-grade (or any grade) routers produced in the US?
Great question.
As a data point, Purism has worked on USA supply chain for their cell phone (Librem 5), and currently ships with mixed-origin parts. "We use US companies with US fabrication whenever possible. Most distributors are based in the US with the exception of large integrated circuits that are made in a variety of countries where those companies do fabrication (US, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan); an example is the NXP CPU we use from their fabrication in South Korea." <https://puri.sm/products/librem-5-usa/#table-of-origin>