Joho the Blog
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August 14, 2004
Clay has posted the clearest, sober-est explanation of why it's time to regulate spectrum as a public good and not as property. It's a brilliant piece of writing in which every sentence tells. Posted
by D. Weinberger at August 14, 2004 08:24 AM
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Comments
Once again the 'technology makes it possible' argument is trotted out.
Usable technology to free up wide swaths of spectrum are currently unavailable to industry. You simply cannot do what Mr. Shirky proposes today.
There are no "computationally smart devices that can coordinate with one another" to achive the task of transmitting a signal to a geosyncronous satellite. Nor solutions for microwave transmissions from terrestrial locations. Nor solutions for aircraft radios. Nor solutions for the vast majority of carrier based radio technology.
You cannot ask an industry to agree to makes fundamental changes based on vapor(hard/soft)ware and where you best example (wifi) suffers from the exact problem, interference, that broadcasters fear.
As I have mentioned before, you will not convince the engineers that pull the world's communications together by telling them at a new 'Philosopher's Stone' has arrived.
Open spectrum is a good goal, but the way this arguement works is not going to convince the very people you NEED to convince.
Don't you think companies want to not have to deal with interference? Don't you think companies want to avoid the costs of spectrum managment? Don't you think companies want more access to consumers? Of course they do.
But the offer for them to give up with they have now in exchange for the promise of nebulous, unproven, unpurchasable technology is something they will NOT do.
Posted by: Michael | August 14, 2004 01:07 PM