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.'"

Comments

Re:spectrum

[mechsoph]

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.

No More ugly colors

[ASayre8]

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/14/203723 7

Same story, better colors.

Ownership of Light

[FFFish]

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!

Re:any color you like

[Doc Ruby]

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.