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That is why I have been an advocate of WiMax . The WiMax standard has now dropped by Nokia, for example, but only because they think that a better long range wireless standard can be developed.

However, Nokia also want to leverage the existing networks as far as possible. Keeping existing networks allows them to be controlled: whole regions, if not nations, of mobile phones can be disconnected in minutes.  It is a capability 'intended' for use in catastrophes to give priority to emergency services. A very tempting capability for others.

The point of WiMax is that it connects - without an interruptible physical connection -over a citywide area. It could exist and flourish even without the Internet.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 05:03:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The point of WiMax is that it connects - without an interruptible physical connection -over a citywide area

So it's local radio, and will be regulated as such. The interruptible connection is the transmitter. Sure, you can run pirate broadcasts, but it's pretty desperate if "the authorities" decide to clamp down. And the more desperate it is, the easier it is for them to claim it's subversive.

I'm not saying this because I'm against WiMax, I'm for. But it doesn't seem to me to evacuate the problem.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 05:56:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The same effect can be achieved by cascading - using every unit (such as my Mac/airport) and having software that will find a route through all the units from one to 'many others'. A WiMax box can be purchased by anyone and put on their roof. It is indeed possible to have pirate systems ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 06:08:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd say nice in theory, but inevitably it will fail as bandwidth gets crucified by teenage filesharers. It might be that for you transmitting political information is important, but for a large part of the technically literate population, the latest film or computer game will be more important. A lack of physical backbone circuits will mean it will fail at choke points, and that will cause people to disconnect from the network and that will fragment and isolate network circuits.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 07:55:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It's not either/or. Cities are internally connected in a million ways, from dedicated place-to-place lines copper to FO, to mobiles, PBX, fixed line phones, and all bands of radiowaves across the spectrum. And it's all connecting itself up ;-)

The point of WiMax is relocalize information sharing, with the city as an almost optimal discrete size of ecosystem, since that is the territory size that has conformed the traditional administrative organizations.

Something I am working on is a proposal for how even smaller units of the city -ie neighbourhoods - can be nodes in a metropolitan system that connect all the people who might physically meet, whether sellers, buyers, servers, suppliers or whatever, and lift the information exchange level at these nodes to make them better places to live in. These hood nodes are then connected together to form the virtual/real city.

The ultimate political aim of the proposal is to bypass representative government, and corporations, in true bottom up style ;-).

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 08:22:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Are you familiar with the history of amateur radio? In the 1920s there were several international conferences where the RF spectrum was allocated to various services, and the European governments tried to shut down all unofficial transmitters. Only through the efforts of the US-based ARRL--with considerable support from Herbert Hoover--were the ham radio frequencies obtained, and they were shut down as soon as WW2 started.
http://www.ac6v.com/history.htm

Governments fundamentally don't like any sort of communication system that they don't control.

by asdf on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 08:16:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Precisely. That is why we have to be very diligent.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 08:24:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Vaguely linked

Brian Greene » Blog Archive » radio is my bomb

This is a second edition of a pamphlet which we brought out first in 1992. The first edition was concise and contained all the relevant information needed to get you interested in starting your own free radio station. The first edition was not an original idea. A magazine distributed through the anarchist press with the same name "Radio is my bomb" has been very popular with those interested in setting up radio stations. Our first edition did fairly well . Many thanks goes to those at "Catharsis" zine for standing in the photo-copying shop for hours on end to bring out the first edition. Some critics of the last edition said it was too technical and didn't explain itself very well. ??

The original printed magazine runs to 64  A4 pages packed with circuit diagrams. I think i got mine from AK Press (Always an interesting source of unusual, non-mainstream political books for those who don't know of it.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 09:21:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but ham radio in the UK is highly regulated. Political discussion is specifically prohibited.

I wonder why.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 09:48:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And that's the democracy that "democracy" wants to export to "non democracy". How outright groteque.
by vladimir on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 03:54:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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