David "Small Pieces, Loosely Joined" Weinberger has posted a great FAQ that covers the technology and policy basics of Open Spectrum.
Should the military and/or emergency services have their own protected frequencies?
First, we believe that the frequencies that the military uses for communications, radar, etc. would be as secure and interference free as any other set of frequencies in a world with Open Spectrum. This is a question that needs to be argued on its scientific merits, free of scare-mongering.
Second, assigned frequencies have their own vulnerabilities. One of the basic technological enablers of the Open Spectrum approach is some form of "frequency hopping" that opportunistically moves transmissions into the most accessible bands. This approach was invented during World War II (and, surprisingly, Hedy Lamaar is one of the two names on the initial patent) to get around the fact that a radio-controlled torpedo could be jammed if its assigned frequency were detected. If the military wants to own its own slice of spectrum because allowing others onto it might cause "interference," what would keep terrorists from purposefully causing the problem?
We have all been learning, across the board, that open, distributed networks are far more secure and robust than hard-wired, centralized ones. That lesson applies to spectrum as well.
(via JOHO the Blog)
