Google Wants To Administer the First White Spaces

aabelro writes "Google proposes to the FCC to become the administrator of a White Spaces Database containing geo-location information about devices using the free channels in the radio spectrum."

Fox, meet henhouse

[speedlaw]

I agree that the way that broadcasters have "parked" spectrum is appalling. Did you know every FM slot is "taken" even in areas where no one uses them ? I once tried to buy a radio station-it was an education. The fact is that even here in media saturated NYC there's a lot of unused RF, and at the higher UHF allocations the fact that one market might interfere with another is greatly lessened. There is no good reason why we need to regulate the way we have been. It's like making a national park with strips of industry. The real reason is that this was a great "restraint of trade" for the established propaganda providers (see "community FM radio") Still, if I were a broadcaster, I'd be very afraid. Since the Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate america, google can't do a worse job than the FCC.

No.

[rickb928]

The FCC should have responsibility for this,and so should maintain the data.

Google wants to get a foot in the door to be able to control/promote a wireless carrier in this spectrum.

And that I don't much mind. But they should have to pay, or at least compete, for that space.

In a way, this is worse than the major carriers playing tic-tac-toe with spectrum auctions.