Google Urges National Inventory of Radio Spectrum 79
Hugh Pickens writes "Google, the wireless industry, and consumer advocates have come together to support a bill that would require the federal government to take a complete inventory of the national airwaves to determine what spectrum is being used, how it is being used and who is using it. The government needs to clean up its sloppy record keeping, they say, or the US risks running out of wireless capacity with the increasing use of the mobile Internet. 'Radio spectrum is a natural resource, something that here in the US is owned by all of us American citizens,' wrote Richard Whitt, Google's counsel for telecom and media. 'Most of us don't give it much thought — and yet use of these airwaves is precisely what makes many of our modern communication systems possible.' The new law, if passed, would require the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to report on the use of all spectrum bands between 300 megahertz and 3.5 gigahertz, including information on the licenses or government user operating in each band and whether the spectrum is actually in use. The unusual alliance between Google, public interest groups, and big telecommunications companies may be temporary. The telecom companies want to have the opportunity to buy any extra spectrum at an auction while Google advocates the use of new technologies that would allow the spectrum to be shared by whoever needs it."
Its noteworthy ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:National Parks (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, actually signing over national parks, particularly the photogenic ones, would be a bit too noticeable; but the stuff that gets pulled on second tier regions is pretty shocking.
Good old Teapot Dome [wikipedia.org] is perhaps the instance with the highest historical profile; but exploitation of federally held lands by private interests, often destructively(overgrazing, hard rock mining, etc.) and almost universally for pennies on the dollar of their actual value is the rule rather than the exception.
They're actually onto something. (Score:5, Interesting)
There's *lots* of spectrum that is not being used, like the 2 MHz part of the 220MHz Amateur band that was taken away from ham radio but never actually used by UPS, for whom it was taken.
There are channels of the 2.6 GHz licensed band in LA that have been licensed to the Catholic church for decades and they have continuous analog video on it related to Catholic schools. Like they need that today! I heard about that from the coordination authority for that band. No channels were available, but not for good reason.
If Google's idea is that underutilized spectrum should be opened up to shared usage that might be much better than the way it is now.
Re:Its noteworthy ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:At least it's not the HF bands... (Score:4, Interesting)
It is true that there are groups of disciplined operators, who are given the opportunity to train with emergency services agencies, so that capabilities may be known and proper procedures worked out and learned. These dedicated amateurs can indeed be a valuable resource, if properly utilized. I've seen it work that way, but unfortunately, such situations are extremely rare. Most hams would simply get in the way, often through no fault of their own.
So let's dispense with the "...because there might be a flood, or something..." argument for