President Bush doesn't use email, why should you want to?

Despite President Bush and his lame-duck administration's disapproval of earmarking some of the spectrum white space for free public access, it looks like the FCC will approve the plan when it votes next week.

FCC Chair Kevin Martin proposes requiring the winner of the spectrum auction to devote 25MHz in the 2,155 to 2,180MHz advanced wireless services band to a free broadband network. The network would be supported by advertising and charges for faster speeds available on pay tiers. The FCC would require family-friendly programming on the free tier and ban pornography. It also would impose an open access requirement on the spectrum, allowing any device or software to plug into the network.

The Bush administration supports a free market auction with the winner able to do whatever it wants with the purchase.