Eighteen public interest and other groups
today asked that Congress protect unlicensed spectrum in any agreement to
provide funds for the payroll tax cut or other legislative spending.
In the letter to the conferees on the tax
legislation, the groups said that the provisions now in the bill, “would be a massive step backwards in the
evolution of our Nation’s wireless policy. They would lead to greater
consolidation, higher consumer costs, and reduced openness in the wireless
industry.”
The
group said there were three concerns that needed to be addressed — that there
are no safeguards for an open network, no safeguards against further industry
consolidation and that the legislation would eliminate new
“Super-WiFi.”
A
copy of the letter is here.
Those signing the letter are:
Access
Humboldt, Akaku: Maui Community Television, Center for Rural Strategies, Demand
Progress, Future of Music Coalition, Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
iSolon.org, Media Access Project, Media Alliance, Mountain Area Information
Network (MAIN), National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture (NAMAC), New
America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, Partnership of African
American Churches, People’s Production House, Prometheus Radio Project, Public
Knowledge, UCC OC Inc., Writers Guild of America, West.