On 1/7/2009 10:58 PM Roland Latour spake thus:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:48:57 -0800, David Nebenzahl wrote:

I find it interesting that nobody seems to be commenting on one
important aspect of this whole deal, which is that we, the people
(you remember that phrase, right?), who own these bands as
(formerly) public communications pathways, are being given a
take-it-or-leave-it proposition where they might (or probably will)
end up in private hands. This would have caused outrage maybe 20-30
years ago, and someone may have even demanded an FCC investigation,
but at this point, all we can do is throw our hands in the air,
roll over and play dead.

The licenses for those VHF freqs should be transferred from TV to
Internet Service Providers, especially in rural areas. It's almost
always in private hands. Except for military, the US Govt doesn't do
all that much broadcasting compared to civilian uses. Private hands?
You mean like Amateur, or CB, or GPRS?

You misunderstand; I mean the current "airways" (VHF band in this case)
are public in the sense that they're public property (i.e., not
privately-owned, administered by the FCC) and also subject to public
oversight (well, at least nominally). You know, like that little thing
called the First Amendment?


--
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the
powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

- Paulo Freire