Here’s the scoop on the “Broadband and Digital Future- Who is in Control” conference. Wish I could make it.
Conference Tomorrow At Stanford On Public Spectrum Access
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Category Archives: False Scarcity
Having My Mind Blown At The Spectrum Policy Conference
I’ve got eight hours of footage from yesterday’s Spectrum Policy: Property or Commons conference.
There are a few more speakers today.
I don’t know when I’m going to find time to get all of this up before I leave for Austin Friday, but I’ll do my best. More likely, I will create a few “highlight reels.” (Even that will take a while. There were many highlights.)
It was really an incredible group of people that Larry assembled in one room — and it seems like we’re really starting to get somewhere towards where this needs to go…
Werbach On Open Spectrum
Spectrum Wants to Be Free
Never pay for phone, cable, or net access again
By Kevin Werbach for Wired.
In an open spectrum world, wireless transmitters would be as ubiquitous as microprocessors: in televisions, cars, public spaces, handheld devices, everywhere. They would tune themselves to free spectrum and self-assemble into networks. Anyone could become a radio broadcaster reaching millions. Phone calls would rarely need to pass through central networks; they would be handed off and relayed across devices, for free or nearly so. Businesses would track far-flung assets in real time via embedded sensors. Big TV networks and cable operators would lose their hammerlock control over media distribution. Entrepreneurs would develop as yet undreamed of applications that we can’t live without. It happens any time open platforms emerge – think eBay and Amazon.com…
When spectrum licensing was established in the early 20th century, radios were primitive, as was the regulatory model used to govern them. To be heard, broadcasters needed an exclusive slice of spectrum. Today, however, digital technologies let many users occupy the same frequency at the same time. As the FCC’s Powell points out, “Modern technology has fundamentally changed the nature and extent of spectrum use.” Today’s devices employ advanced digital signal processing and other techniques, and they’re smart enough to coexist without interference.
The Truth About Open Spectrum
Here’s a great article by Sarah Lai Stirland for the Seattle Times that explains the truth about the amazing consumer benefits of wireless and the fallacy of spectrum scarcity:
Open-spectrum advocates say it will boost technology
(via BoingBoing)
The core of this idea is the belief that, if the rules are tweaked the right way, technology companies in the next five years will have brought to market the equipment that will make the notion of electromagnetic-spectrum scarcity, a fundamental issue of telecom economics, seem quaint.
Equipment makers would create devices that would intelligently navigate through the congested airwaves
David Reed’s Comments to the FCC On Open Spectrum
David Reed has posted his usual brilliant and thoughtful analysis of Open Spectrum in a single comprehensive and wonderfully-footnoted document for the FCC. Thanks!
Comments for FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force on Spectrum Policy.
Now let’s hope somebody over there is paying attention. (Michael Powell? Are you listening?)
I argue in this note that the foundation of a sound economic and regulatory approach to managing radio communications in the US and worldwide cannot and should not ignore fundamental advances in the understanding of communications technology that have been developed in the last few decades. Those advances are just beginning to reach the point where they can be fruitfully applied in the marketplace, at a time when the need for a huge increase in communications traffic is beginning to surge.
It will be crucial for the continued growth and leadership of the US economy, and for its security as well, to embrace these new technologies, and follow them where they lead, in spite of the potential negative impact that these technologies may have on traditional telecommunications business models. There is a
David Reed and friends group blog
I just found SATN.org, a blog David Reed describes as: “…a place where I, Bob Frankston, and Dan Bricklin have decided to put a joint weblog and pointers to a collection of current essays.