White Space Plan Would Reuse TV Spectrum 150
An anonymous reader writes "A collection of companies including Microsoft, Google and Motorola are teaming up for a new white space wireless network plan. The White Spaces Database Group, as it will be known, plans on formulating a plan to create, govern and maintain a wireless broadband network on abandoned analog television spectrum. When the spectrum is finally vacated in June, the group hopes that system in place which will allow for the creation of an open wireless broadband network which will be accessible by any device. The FCC officially approved keeping the spectrum open back in November, despite staunch opposition from telco firms."
Re:Govern? (Score:4, Insightful)
What? you want any large corporation to just be able to take it all for themselves?
That's really the other choice. Govern it, or let the biggest bully take it.
How the telcos will respond (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a very profound threat to lucrative mobile cartels. Yet it's absolutely necessary as a step on the way to opening the airwaves to serve a real global Internet. My prediction: the telcos will respond with patent litigation, and with "think of the children and *AA" legislative proposals to tie the new open networks up in monitoring, filtering, and other restrictions on use.
Re:Return Path? (Score:3, Insightful)
Should be expect yet another cellular radio network? Is that a good thing, given that health concerns have not been laid to rest completely?
Sine when have they not been put to rest? Just because a bunch of loonies disagree with the science that debunked their claims doesn't mean their concerns haven't been put to rest.
Re:Welcome to Niggerbuntu (Score:3, Insightful)
Your excellent critique almost makes it seem like a good idea to respond to trolls. Nice work!
Re:This is social justice (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, it's terrible for consumers. First, not auctioning off this spectrum deprives tax payers of money. When you think about it, it's really criminal that the government doesn't auction off all of our services and rights to private enterprise. We could make SO MUCH money!
Also, by providing "free" things, you're depriving companies of revenue, which will damage the economy. They'll have to charge more for other services, and probably cut jobs too. We want the telecoms to make as much money as possible, because then the economy will thrive.
(Of course I'm not serious, but apparently some people think like this.)
Re:Return Path? (Score:5, Insightful)
See friend, that's the difference between the human body, which is imperfectly understood, if at all, and say... RADIO WAVES, which we pretty much understand all significant issues of.
If you give me a pill and say "We don't think this will kill you.", I have a legitimate concern.
If you give me a cell phone and say "its impact on you is less than the impact of the background radiation you are exposed to daily 24/7, we know this via several methods, most significantly a through understanding of how radio waves propagate." I don't.
Re:How the telcos will respond (Score:3, Insightful)
You're speaking of it as if it is a certainty. You might want to wait and see just how good these devices are. I bet that you'll be pleasantly surprised by the state of the computer-controlled radio art.
Re:How the telcos will respond (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is social justice (Score:2, Insightful)
Rural viewers can always mount a directional antenna aimed at the nearest large market of their choice. I agree, the whole thing stinks, but it's not the end of the world.