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Open Spectrum: Free the Airwaves

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the free-as-a-bird dept.

akb writes: "Most of the RF spectrum in use is licensed for exclusive use. What do we get? Inefficient use through spectrum hoarding, political finagling to abuse the regulatory system to gain competitive advantage and access to the airwaves for only a few players. A good article over at CNET picks up on the example of 802.11b in using spread spectrum technology and unlicensed bands and proposes that model be applied to the rest of the spectrum. For the hardcore check out NYU law professor Yochai Benkler's writings, particularly this article (pdf) and Durga Satapathy's papers for the tech end of things."

2 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. But people don't want to cooperate by Walter+Bell · · Score: 1, Troll

    As a cable modem customer, I know all too well that a "plentiful" reserve of bandwidth quickly gets hogged by jerks who queue up and download several movies, ISOs, and pieces of warez simultaneously. This is a prime example of the tragedy of the commons.

    One thing I learned at Worldcom is that the dirty little secret of CDMA, TDMA, and any other spectrum-sharing technology is that a small percentage of "rogue" devices that are designed to hog bandwidth or disrupt service will be able to do so, at the expense of everybody elses service.

    Currently, if a terrorist wanted to block a wireless service (say, television or 802.11b), he would use a transmitter that is easy to locate through triangulation, and only focuses on one particular service. If, however, spectrum is shared amongst many services, that terrorist could take out all of those services and it would be almost impossible to tell which transmitter was his, and which belonged to legitimate users.

    Although the idea sounds utopian and attractive, one must keep security in mind. And with security in mind, I pronounce the idea DOA.

    ~wally

  2. LPFM is not dead. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    LPFM is not dead. The FCC is still in the process of awarding licenses -- slowly. I believe the only operating LPFM right now is in Oklahoma.

    LPFM was not necessarily killed by the likes of Clear Channel and NPR alone, though they had a part. One of the things that happened is that a lot of really well funded religious loonies muscled their way through the licensing process before the "everyday" community groups did. So once you hear an LPFM on the air in your town, there's a high probability it'll be some bible beaters asking for dough and crying about unborn babies, etc.

    The FCC I think was quite happy letting the religious zealouts have LPFM, because the Ashcrofts of the world have never had a problem with the right-wing God geeks.