Friday in the white spaces- September 14, 2007 Things are heating up in the white spaces proceeding. The Commission will soon have to decide what to do. How will it deal with the conflicting technical evidence on interference, particularly given the abject failure of the Microsoft device last month Is there a way to slice up the issue so as not to cut off later decisions about unlicensed portable devices What impact should the broadcasters' claims about not wanting to delay the DTV transition have, particularly.http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/14/3229933.html The litigation begins- September 14, 2007 The received wisdom last month was that the carriers wouldn't challenge the 700 MHz auction rules because they wouldn't want to be seen as getting in the way of the DTV transition.The received wisdom was wrong. Thanks to FreePress for the word that Verizon Wireless has filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit claiming that the "open platforms for devices and applications" portions of the auction rules (the "no locking, no blocking" rules): exceed the Commission's authority under the...http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/13/3227896.html Pause- September 13, 2007 Here's a vignette for you:When Jacqueline du Pr was six years old, the story goes, she went into her first competition as a cellist, and she was seen running down the corridor carrying her cello above her head, with a huge grin of excitement on her face. A custodian, noting what he took to be relief on the little girl's face, said, "I see you've just had your chance to perform!" And Jackie answered, excitedly, "No, no, I'm just about to!"http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/12/3225817.html Today in the white spaces- September 11, 2007 I spent a lot of energy writing this past summer about how important to experimentation unlicensed uses of the "white spaces" are. And if you search on this blog using "white spaces" you'll see a number of breathless posts about how key this entire endeavor is.Now I know I'm right, because today the broadcast industry is marching on Capitol Hill, flags waving, guns booming, to make sure that no one ever gets to use these unused frequencies except them. Their battle cry (invented by..http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/11/3223267.html Tying things together- September 11, 2007 It's clear that last week's Dept. of Justice filing hewed very closely to arguments often made by AT&T and others opposing any form of limitation on their ability to prioritize communications on their networks.But it may be too easy to say that DOJ is in thrall to AT&T. This may be part of something much more significant.The Bells, Hollywood, and law enforcement all have strong interests in controlling online communications. The internet disrupts their business models. .http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/10/3221233.html White spaces legislation- September 7, 2007 This happened earlier this year, but it's still interesting. Rep. Bobby Rush, in whose district Shure (wireless microphones manufacturer) resides, introduced a bill that would put off even considering having mobile wireless devices in the white spaces until 2012. What would you do if you were a big online company that wanted to take advantage of the white spaces in an unlicensed way and route around the incumbents Would you build a new prototype device and try to convince the FCC...http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/6/3212831.html In motion- September 5, 2007 Today was a good day because I got the chance to talk about how the internet works with a class of law students. But now it's time to move on, no time to blog, and I'll be back writing here tomorrow.For a break, go look at Jeremy Denk's last two entries.http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/5/3209247.html More on peering- September 4, 2007 I remember being told three years ago that, in general, internet backbone issues weren't really a subject for regulatory involvement, and didn't need to be. Although the last mile was a problem, the upstream fat-pipe relationships weren't - they were all competitive and thriving. Or at least that's what people thought.Over the last couple of days I've been looking around trying to figure out what the facts are about backbones and peering. It seems that we don't even know what..http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/4/3207534.html |