Free The Airwaves!

Sometimes, I don't have a clue when things should be obvious, but at least I am lucky this doesn't happen too often. I won't give you any detailed examples regarding the above, but I think it's enough to say that once, it took me about 5 years to notice a scratch. Well, at least I understand jokes faster than most blondes...but I must confess that, if one would come to me and tell me "Free the Airwaves," I wouldn't guess in a million years that this is something closely related to Google. Fortunately, I have Google to find out a lot of things, and so we can easily talk about FreeTheAirwaves.com or .org!

"One of America's most valuable natural resources is our "white spaces" -- the radio airwaves, or spectrum, that have long carried analog TV signals. Three-fourths of the white spaces are completely unused today, and -- especially once TV is broadcast in digital only starting in 2009 -- could be used to kick-start a revolution in wireless technology, including universal wireless online access and numerous new products and services that can't even be imagined today."

Well, it may be true that Google's Android didn't manage any breakthrough yet, but this initiative looks pretty interesting. Just read this: "This fall, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will decide whether to make this spectrum available for anyone to use.

At Google, we think more open access to the white spaces is essential, not only for companies like ours, but for society in general. But this outcome is far from certain, so we've joined a broad coalition of public interest groups and industry peers who are working to convince the FCC to free the airwaves and unleash the next generation of Internet innovation. We hope you'll add your voice to the debate by signing our petition and helping spread the word about this campaign."

So...can I have some broadband wireless for myself? Yummieee! It's not exactly like that, but...

"Google launched this website because we believe strongly that freeing the white spaces is crucial to the future of the Internet. Make no mistake: open access to this unused bandwidth would surely be good for our own bottom line (not to mention those of many of our industry peers); better access to the Internet means more people doing web searches and using our software products."

In the end, this will also accelerate the growth rate of portable computers' market share, I think. After all, what could be better than have 100% free WiFi coverage? 3G coverage for your iPhones, I know, but that's not the point now...

For now, this is only about signing a petition, and making yourself heard, but the future may prove extremely interesting for Google and those following them in the "Airwaves Initiative," if I can call it this way...