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Shirky on Spectrum Ownership
scubacuda writes "When engineering assumptions change, shouldn't the laws that govern technology reflect those changing assumptions? Perhaps Clay Shirky puts it best: 'Things like shoes, cars, and houses are all property. Property is excludable -- it is easy to prevent others from using it -- and rival -- meaning that one person's use of it will interfere with another person's use of it. Spectrum has neither characteristic. Spectrum is purely descriptive -- a frequency is just a particular number of waves a second -- so no one can own a particular frequency of spectrum in the same way no one can own a particular color of light. Instead, when an organization 'owns' spectrum, what they really have is a contract guaranteeing Federal prosecution if someone else broadcasts on their frequency in their area. The regulatory costs of forcing spectrum to emulate property are enormous, but worthwhile so long as it leads to better use of spectrum than other methods can. That used to be true. No longer.'"
Wrong, at least in part. If I broadcast on a spectrum being used by another, it can interfere. And by interfering, I can exclude others from using it.
However, this may be purely semantics on my part, since one depends on the other.
(tig)
Ignorance and prejudice and fear
Walk hand in hand
Wifi and cordless phones actually run on an unregulated part of the spectrum. No FCC to keep you from using it. No FCC to stop other people from mucking it up.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/14/203723 7
Same story, better colors.
no one can own a particular frequency of spectrum in the same way no one can own a particular color of light
You can "own" colors, no problem.
See this short article explaining how the courts have favoured/denied color trademarking.
I believe Coke owns their colour of red, IBM blue, KPN (Dutch Telco) green, etc.
As long as the color is not indicative of "function" (ie. isn't associated with a particular "message", ie. blue is cold, red is hot, green is environmental, etc), you have a shot at getting it trademarked.
When trademarked, competitors in your marketspace/mindshare can't use that same colour.
Which means you effectively "own" the wavelength of light that is that colour!
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You asked "how phased arrays are fundamentally different from other directional antennas, such as parabolic dishes"? And I answered. Now, a phased array of parabolic dishes is obviously no different from a phased array, except you're specifying the unit antenna technology. A so-called "phased array" need not be made of parabolic units. And the dedicated "phased array" antennae that I'm talking about have specific features that optimize them for use in spatial differentiation of similar signals. Their compaction (eg. LSI) and integrated amplifiers, as well as other inline analog and digital circuits for filtering and differentiation within the array itself, are exactly the point.
It's like asking "what's the difference between a metal rod and a VHF mast"? For all but trolling purposes, the difference is that a VHF mast is a special metal rod, more practically useable for tuning VHF signals than any old metal rod. It's useful for DIY to understand that this gear isn't magic, and basically pretty simple. It's also useful for fellow DIY'ers to cooperate for better results, rather than picking semantic fights.
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make install -not war
Uh.... they already do this.
When things were analog, it was simply a matter of pumping out enough noise or frequency-matched garble to confuse radar sets and other RF-based equipment.
HARM missiles home in on frequencies *and* location (obviously), and will fly to last-received location, in case a clever radar/radio operator figures he's about ready to be bombed and scoots out of the area, well, the antenna set is likely to get hit.
With digital radio sets, the goal is to try and pump out enough broadband noise to try and override the actual information content.
Which is what makes frequency-hopping slightly better: it's hard to pump out CW noise efficiently (what does a Tesla Coil or arc welder in operation do to SINCGARS?)
Actually, the energy of a photon matters only with its wavelength. Read up on Einstein's photoelectric theory again. You confuse particle energy with intensity. In electricity, 4000 volts, but 1 milliamp, seems like a lot when you're getting EMG (yes, it hurts), but so would getting hit by crossing a 12-V car battery (that pumps 700 amps through you...) with your tongue.
Out of curiosity, I once licked my fingers and shorted out a 68-volt lantern battery with them...
A stream of water, under sufficiently high pressure and sufficiently small enough in diameter, can cut steel plate, even though the same volume of water per second might be less than from your garden hose.
But then throw in frequency-domain analysis. What is the frequency map (i.e., Fourier integral) of a true square wave? Hint: A radio engineer would call them "side bands". What is the frequency spectrum of a frequency-modulated signal? etc etc etc. With the square wave, a signal with side bands that overlapped yours would definitely cause interference to your signal.