Esse post tem como fonte o Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things, em comentário sobre a necessidade de considerar o espectro de ondas livre e garantir ao usuário a escolha de quais equipamentos ele quer plugar na rede. Um debate importante em meio aos atuais desenvolvimentos da conexão sem fio à internet com palms, laptops e celulares. Trechos:
How the right to attach can keep spectrum free.
“What’s needed to spur innovation is a simple requirement: that any winner of the auction respect a rule that gives consumers the right to attach any safe device (meaning it does no harm) to the wireless network that uses that spectrum. It’s called the Cellular Carterfone rule, after a 1968 decision by the FCC (…) That decision resulted in the creation of the standard phone jack.(…)
(…) For example, in the wired telephone world Carterfone rules are what made it possible to market answering machines, fax machines and the modems that sparked the Internet revolution.
Attachment rights can break open markets that might otherwise be controlled by dominant gatekeepers. Longshot companies like Ebay or YouTube might never have been born had they first needed the approval of a risk-averse company like AT&T. If you’ve invented a new toaster, you don’t have to get approval from the electric company. Consumers decide how good your product is, not some gatekeeper.