Open Spectrum FAQ, 2. Getting good reaction to the FAQ on Open Spectrum I wrote with content from Dewayne Hendricks, David Reed and Jock Gill. So far, it’s been blogged by Cory Doctorow, Dan Gillmor, Eric Norlin, and Dave Winer. And I haven’t checked this morning’s blogiverse yet. Open Spectrum is important and not on enough radar screens yet. Spread the meme!… [Joho the Blog]
Dave’s done a fabulous job here summarizing the thinking about Open Spectrum. I had spent some time with David Reed trying to get a handle on it. Definitely something that should be on your radar screen. One key excerpts for me:
Interference is a metaphor. It cannot be precisely defined technically without fully specifying a particular technology frozen in time, and in any case has nothing to do with the legal definition given by the FCC.
Like so much else in the collision between policy and technology we run into problems because policy-making has such a poor grasp on technology (I’m sure the converse is also true, I’m just not qualified to talk about that direction). One particular failing in policy setting is the issue of the dynamics of technology. Outside of the U.S. Constitution, policy setting seems to be particularly prone to trying to freeze designs too soon. Let’s hope that the work of folks like Dave and Ed Felten helps increase the level of technological literacy to a more acceptable level.