I have a feeling you're trying to chase the wrong guy...
I don't understand HOW you come to think I am among those with the modified firmware...
Just taking an educated guess, but I suspect by "firmware" Kano is referring to the version of cgminer your hardware is using. e.g. The manufacturer modified cgminer somehow.
From Kano's response, it sounds like modified cgminer software has been known to cause problems to pools in the past (block stealing, bad stats, etc.).
Thus he isn't banning you as a personal thing, but rather not allowing your hardware on the pool to protect the pool and its other users. This feels similar to me to the ban of rental equipment he has in place (Nicehash specifically, plus some others)
Thanks! I tried to think of it this way, too. This would make sense if I'm the only person on this pool using Ebit E10. Something tells me this is very unlikely... there were a lot of E10 shipped all over the world around March-April this year...
Even if it's the case and I'm so unique with the hardware I have (or manage for others), my question still remains - how about other Ebit devices? I have a few E9+ (or E9++, or whatever they're called) - should I take them out, too? The decision criteria for banning are unclear to me. And while the technical details may be a know-how and not to be disclosed, I would at least like to have some kind of a list of equipment prone to be banned. So I won't buy one of those next time I go shopping for a miner.
And no, a term 'modified firmware' doesn't give me the answer, as I believe every vendor modifies cgminer - one way or another.
Up until yesterday, I thought the restrictions applied only to rented hash and AsicBoost (with work in progress to add support for the last). Looking at the way things went today, Ebit E10 are also not allowed. What's next? We have Canaan (unfortunately Avalons are still a bit pricey in my region, even today), and Bitmain (noone likes them, but everybody uses their Antminers). Are these the only supported / allowed vendors?