A lesson from the White Space War

[Commentary] While Americans vote for their President and Congress on Tuesday, November 4, the wireless industry, broadcasters, electronics makers, software manufacturers, and media reform groups will nervously monitor another election: the Federal Communications Commission's Open Meeting scheduled for that same day. There, the five Commissioners will vote on whether to authorize a service that permits consumer electronics makers to build devices that can send and receive wireless broadband signals through vacant TV channels, or "white space." That decision might not have been possible a generation ago.