A green light for free-software defined radio? [LWN.net]

A green light for free-software defined radio?

Posted Jul 12, 2007 17:14 UTC (Thu) by smoogen (subscriber, #97)
In reply to: A green light for free-software defined radio? by drag
Parent article: A green light for free-software defined radio?

> The radio spectrum is a literally untapped shared resource for sharing and
> communicating on a global scale. Right now you have all major governments
> admitting that this is a resource that belongs to it's citizens. AND you
> have ALL major governments that have near total restrictions on what those
> citizens can and cannot do with it.

The issue is that it is a shared resource.. and ideally the government is there to make sure that it does not suffer from the "Tragedy of the Commons". The problems range from the officially malicious (purposely listening on/blocking other transmitters) to the accidently malicious... two different transmitters using the same frequency with different patterns causing blockage etc.

The issue is how to best police the commons. Each government has come up with its own way.. and most are probably not the most democratic. Getting that fixed requires fixing a government to be accountable by its citizens which requires a participating citizen base... something most nations do not have.

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