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Free Some Spectrum for Public
Last updated: February 20, 2008 - 9:14pm
[Commentary] One lesson of Hurricane Katrina and the terrible chaotic aftermath is this: The public needs direct, unlicensed access to cheap, robust communications. The FCC can make this happen. A portion of the analog TV spectrum that will be clawed back from broadcasters in the next several years should be made license-free. Let the technical circus -- that world of geeks, entrepreneurs, companies and venture capitalists -- seek profits by making a mass market of super-duper WiMax gear. This will make future communications blackouts, like that which helped to cripple rescuers in New Orleans, much less likely.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR:Larry Honig, Volvoxx]
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

