Open Spectrum: Recent and Upcoming Events

The FCC will decide soon whether to grant broadcasters "must-carry" rights on cable systems for the five or more channels of digital programming they will soon be able to transmit over the air. Rights to such cable carriage are worth tens of billions of dollars. Why should the broadcasting industry get something for free that every other cable/satellite channel must pay for? Should the broadcasters give something in return? Will digital must-carry rights really speed… more

Other Speakers Include:

Kevin KahnIntel Fellow; Director, Intel Communications Technology LabKevin Werbach,Supernova Group; Former FCC Counsel for New Technology PolicyAndrew Moss,Director of Technical Policy, Windows, Microsoft CorporationSandra Aistars,Counsel for Intellectual Property, AOL Time WarnerCory DoctorowElectronic Frontier Foundation Anthony Townsend, Co-Founder & Executive Director, NYCwireless.netEd Felten, Princeton UniversityMike Godwin, Senior Technology Counsel, Public KnowledgeGigi B. Sohn, President and Co-Founder, Public Knowledge more

Because the FCC has been slow to provide adequate spectrum for unlicensed broadband applications like Wi-Fi, growing numbers of software-savvy citizens are poised to adapt off-the-shelf Wi-Fi equipment to operate on the largely vacant, licensed bands adjacent to the crowded unlicensed frequencies. According to Scott Rafer, author of the provocative FCCster.com web site, unless the FCC acts quickly to provide more unlicensed spectrum for citizen access, the coming era of software defined radios will subvert the paradigm by which… more

All Americans are joint owners of a trove of hidden assets. These assets - natural gifts like air and water, and social creations like culture and the Internet - constitute our shared inheritance. They're vital to our lives and make our economy run. Though it's impossible to put a precise value on them, it's safe to say they're worth trillions of dollars.

Recently, Peter Barnes, David Bollier and Michael Calabrese served on an

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) NeXt Generation (XG) Communications program is developing technology to allow multiple users to share spectrum in ways previously unimaginable or at least thought impractical. The policy implications of XG are vast. The technology implies that there is vast "white space" in frequency bands frequently thought to be fully occupied. Incumbent licensees who have argued that there is no underutilized spectrum within their frequency bands will now have to face stark… more

In recent years, the sluggish telecommunications industry has been buzzed by the wild-fire success of "Wi-Fi" -- a technology that uses license-exempt spectrum to allow many users to share a single high-speed Internet connection on a wireless basis. Hotels and coffee shops are turning into "hot spots" - and campuses and public spaces into wireless "hot zones." Now, this low-power, inexpensive technology has advanced beyond Starbucks to connect thousands of rural and suburban consumers - farms, small businesses, home-schooling… more

The traditional approach to bridging the broadband "last mile" requires huge investments by incumbent carriers. Laying fiber lines to millions of homes - and upgrading proprietary cellular networks to provide wireless Internet access, so-called 3G - are enormously capital intensive and time consuming at a time when the telecom industry is flat on its back. A viable alternative is WiFi, a wireless LAN technology that shares broadband Internet access among devices using unlicensed spectrum. The market for WiFi… more

Sweeping changes triggered by digital technologies have raised questions about how to understand the public interest in copyright law and digital infrastructure. Join us for a one-day conference, Protecting the Information Commons, which will include the release of several major reports and explore some key questions: How is the public domain being threatened by new technologies and copyright law? What are the implications of current patent policies and digital innovations for science and the public domain? … more

Because the airwaves are owned equally by all Americans, revenue from spectrum auctions and fees could be earmarked for reinvestment in new public assets for the digital era-including quality children's programming, educational innovation, digitizing our cultural inheritance, and expanded civic discourse. A spectrum trust could help to fulfill the public interest obligations of broadcasters and other commercial spectrum users. One such proposal, the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DOIT), follows in the footsteps of such historic reinvestments as the… more

On September 11th, the nation discovered that our current cellular communications infrastructure is incapable of managing high volumes of both public safety and consumer phone traffic. In response, the National Communications System, a federal agency, has suggested a "priority access" system to wireless cellular networks in the event of an emergency -- a system that could block civilian calls during a crisis.

Reed Hundt, former Chairman of the FCC, proposes another option: a separate emergency wireless network that… more

Last December Sen. John McCain described the 1996 grant of a second channel to broadcasters - ostensibly for the purpose of quickening the conversion to high-definition TV - as "one of the great rip-offs in American history. They used to rob trains in the Old West, now we rob spectrum." What he could not have foreseen is that the conductor of the spectrum gravy train -- the FCC -- would decide not only to allow broadcasters operating… more

The rapid deployment of high-speed Internet access could prove critical to lasting economic recovery and to continuing the high levels of productivity growth achieved in recent years. Eric Benhamou - chairman and former CEO of 3Com - will provide an overview of the principles he and his industry colleagues are developing to address the need to accelerate business and residential access to both wireline and wireless broadband. He will discuss the need for rational long-range policy alternatives instead… more

The U.S. wireless industry argues that mobile Internet and other advanced ("3G") services will be delayed unless spectrum, already occupied by powerful incumbents, is reallocated and auctioned. The Pentagon, broadcasters, satellite firms, universities and fixed wireless providers are battling to hold on to their valuable spectrum licenses. Policy makers are desperately seeking a "deal" to free up spectrum for 3G. The FCC and Commerce Department have just decided to delay their recommendations; meanwhile, Rep. Pickering (R-MS) has proposed… more

The New York Times has called the airwaves the most valuable resource of the New Economy -- the auctions concluded last week raised a record $17 billion. One central issue the administration and Michael Powell, the FCC's new chairman, must confront is how to… more