Government interventions, a terrorism risk.

[John Tate]

There are lots of arguments for more Government and Military control over things for self-defense. Some ideas have merit, and others not. However I've a scenario in mind where Government intervention will be completely useless: technological warfare from disorganized groups. There have been hackers for years, most nuisances, they are defeated by the private sector hiring better hackers. Much like we get the Government to hire better goons to protect less goonish citizens from disorganized goons. In the sense of physical goons, a centralized Government is important and essential in making sure the centralized goons don't take over and there is a political process.

However there is something that we need in all warfare, to keep those goons together, to trade stocks, to call our distant relatives. Radio waves! The government currently allocate frequencies to specific devices and purposes. WiFI is in the 2.4ghz band and has 12-14 channels you can use. Your mobile phone has a band of frequencies it uses, hopping to an unused channel. It sounds vitally important for the Government to regulate airspace in this context because I can have WiFi and you can have a mobile, and they will both work right next to one another. It sounds senseless to get rid of this regulation, but hear me out.

Organized terrorists with some electronics can build a radio jammer. Disorganized terrorists can build ten radio jammers, all blocking most mobile phone frequencies, and scatter them all over the place as each one will make every other radio jammer harder to find and shut down within close range. The mobile phones, helpless to Government regulation, can't just hop to another frequency. They are limited by the FCC to a specific range, which is only useful if you are trying to find a televison station without having to look through the entire space of freqencies the radio is capable of (now we have auto-tune so this also unimportant). With mobile phones and Wifi these restrictions simply put the most communication in a ball and chain, helpless to move away from jammed frequency.

So there you go, the FCC serve a future terrorist or punk ass attack by a bunch of disorganized idiots on radio space. Since these days most equipment can find a frequency automatically with digital electronics this concept of bandwidth rationing is a waste. Without it, devices would be built to use far more frequencies, and jamming them becomes much harder. John Galt could communicate by using a freqency too high for fictional Fascist/Commie America's shitty radio technology.

It would do more damage to drop a hundred radio jammers across a city in America than a bomb, because a factory blowing up can be replaced in a free market economy. Free radio or jammer bombs could destroy western nations.

In short: bureaucrats are good at one thing in war, and this is building a gigantic target to slaughter.

Edited March 23, 2009 by John Tate

[BaalChatzaf]

It would do more damage to drop a hundred radio jammers across a city in America than a bomb, because a factory blowing up can be replaced in a free market economy. Free radio or jammer bombs could destroy western nations.

In short: bureaucrats are good at one thing in war, and this is building a gigantic target to slaughter.

There is always the possibility of EMP generation, too. The cure is to keep a bunch of priority land lines in operation, well guarded and buried deep.

Direct to Sat beaming is not easy to jam by the way. It is line of sight.

Ba'al Chatzaf