Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Cartoon Guide to Federal Spectrum Policy

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 19:42:47 -0400

The Cartoon Guide to Federal Spectrum Policy

The Cartoon Guide to
Federal Spectrum Policy

Thanks to the computer revolution, radios are evolving
from being dumb to smart devices, which allows wireless
networking and communication based on dynamic sharing
of frequency bands.

This radio revolution calls for radically different government
regulation of public access to the radio spectrum,* popularly
known as the “public airwaves.”

Increasingly, access to spectrum should be regulated based
on free speech (“unlicensed”) rather than exclusive speech
(“licensed”) regulatory principles. Not surprisingly, recipients
of exclusive government licenses to use the spectrum (called
“licensees”) are furiously opposed to any proposal that requires
them to share their spectrum with users lacking a license.
Never mind that their licenses are for short terms and convey
no ownership rights, or that license-free sharing need not conflict
with their currently offered services. The licensees know that
exclusive rights to use the public airwaves are worth a king's
ransom, and the prospect of your paying them a toll every time
you communicate on those airwaves has them salivating like
Golum in Lord of the Rings.

To prevent additional unlicensed sharing of spectrum, licensees
commission arcane engineering and economic analyses to prove
that licensing is the only possible way to allocate spectrum without
creating chaos. How can the public evaluate these self-serving
claims?

Fortunately, the public does understand the acoustic spectrum —
the medium that human mouths and ears use for communication.
This Cartoon Guide seeks to use the public's intuitive grasp of the
acoustic spectrum to bring the public into the policy debate over
unlicensed access to the radio spectrum.

*The word “radio” refers to devices such as cell phones, and WiFi
networks that transmit information over radio waves.

http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Pub_File_1555_1.pdf

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