ICWS Noontime Series
--------------------
www.icws.uiuc.edu
 				(ICWS will provide soda + cookies,
 				you are welcome to bring your own lunch)


Making the World Safe for Unlicensed Transmission

Prof. Christian Sandvig   (csandvig@uiuc.edu)
Department of Speech Communication
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

12:00 noon
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Room 301 CSL


Abstract
Quite apart from any technological aspects of wireless, the international
regulatory environment presents major and potentially insurmountable
obstacles to the acceptance of future unlicensed wireless systems of all
types.  The problems are myriad:  Supposedly neutral and objective processes
for device certification and spectrum allocation are under strain as never
before.  License revenue has historically been crucial to financing corrupt
governments.  Authority over the electromagnetic spectrum is devolving.  There
is increasing international trade in wireless devices.  Developments such as
software defined radio and smart antennas have challenged some traditional
modes of regulation.  Overall, the relevant policy processes are in a dismal
state--even in countries like the US that consider themselves international
exemplars.  As Woodrow Wilson launched US involvement in World War I with a
call to make the world "safe for democracy," this talk asks what political
battles might be needed to secure the ability to transmit.


Bio

Christian Sandvig is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research investigates
communication technology and public policy. He received the Ph.D. in
communication from Stanford University in 2002. Subsequently, Sandvig was
Markle Foundation Information Policy Fellow at Oxford University, where he
remains Associate Fellow in Socio-Legal Studies. In 2002 Sandvig was named a
"next-generation leader in science and technology policy" by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2006 Sandvig received the
Faculty Early Career Development Award from the US National Science
Foundation.