In the Air Tonight ... or Some Night Soon

So, in this particular chapter of Bad Government, programs put in place that made sense in one era continue and take on a life of their own, becoming a stumbling block to innovation and change in another era. And all this is done with the full weight of the federal government bureaucracy and the imprimatur of officialdom, all under the heading of well-meaning regulators (I'm being charitable here) doing their job as "responsible stewards of the public trust."

Can we really expect regulators to quit regulating and put themselves out of a job? I don't think that happens very often - never, in the case of the current FCC - such agencies have to be told how to act and so I'm looking to Congress for any hope I have for more unlicensed spectrum. And when does Congress act? Arguably, most of the time they act when a crisis forces them to, rarely when the Public Interest requires them to....generally, Congress acts when the selfish interests of one powerful lobby come up against the selfish interests of another powerful lobby and an external catalyst sparks action.

That's what's coming up, folks, with the spectrum allotted for analog broadcast TV coming into play (Digital TV will free up valuable lower end spectrum in 2009), Big Tech has lined up against Big Telecom. This will be a very interesting battle to watch. Tom Evslin, writing in his blog Fractals of Change has two very good posts that do a much better job than I can do in describing this situation and its importance to cracking the nut that US broadband infrastructure has become.

Two bills have been introduced in the Senate to speed up what seems to be an interminable FCC process. A bill from Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) would require the FCC to allow unlicensed use of this spectrum within 180 days of enactment. Another bill from John Sununu (R-NH) has a 90 day deadline but allows the FCC to reserve some of the frequencies for licensed use. Note that if you are automatically sensing unused frequencies you actually can start before 2009 when more frequencies will become available.

For a great exposition of issues and a good primer on spectrum, which I won't recapitulate here, I recommend you go to Fractals of Change to check out these two articles - "More on Frequency Regulation - It Matters" and "Internet Alternatives: A Good Beginning."

Take a moment and read Tom's analysis and case for unlicensed spectrum - good graphics too! And send a copy to your Congressman and Senator! Make your voice heard.