US Senators have taken up the community wireless rallying cry. Sascha Meinrath, who was very active in tech community efforts to re-connect New Orleans post-Katrina, tells Boing Boing,
Major reform is afoot! Two bills were introduced on Friday that would radically improve unlicensed wireless access. Both bills would greatly improve the general public’s access to the public airwaves. The first bill, “The Wireless Innovation Act of 2006,” is a major bi-partisan effort to line up Senators to support Community Wireless.
The second, “The American Broadband for Communities Act,” is lead by Republican Senator Stevens and does much the same. While many will argue that the two bills don’t go far enough, they are a giant leap (not a baby step) forward towards reforming spectrum policies to make more efficient use of computer technology. I don’t know if the drafts are public yet, but will post the texts once I get confirmation.
Both bills would open up TV broadcast bands (as proposed by FCC proceedings 04-186) within the next 180 days. These bills are particularly important because of FCC proceedings 05-312 (read the wireless communities’ concerns about the 05-312 proceedings here). The 04-186 proceedings are something that I and many other people have been actively working towards for quite some time. You can read our official comments on the 04-186 proceedings here. Obviously, it is fantastic news to see US Senators taking up the same position as we’ve been forwarding and I’m hopeful that we’ll finally see some reforms to make more efficient use of the public airwaves.