Hi Ramon, thanks for spreading this. Please let us know when it's time to start a campaign.
Warmly, JuergeN Am Sonntag, den 25.11.2012, 16:42 +0000 schrieb Ramon Roca: > Sorry for cross-posting, and in English for a wider audience. > > Last friday, colleagues from a community wireless which is cooperating > with us in a small village in Argentina got a visit from representatives > of the CNC (Comisión Nacional de las Comunicaciones). Seems that the > inspection was caused by a claim from Telecom, a local mobile operator > affiliated to Movistar (Telefonica), arguing that was interfering to > their backbone links. > > The inspected nodes are actually composed by low cost wifi routers, > working al 2.4 band, using the Argentinian regulatory domain, which is > region 2 of the UIT (same as in the US), with a power between 50mW and > 100mW and serving Internet to a primary school, and some families in a > low-income neighborhood. > > Our colleagues are very much concerned because of the lack of > regulations in Argentina. Looks like those CNC officials will come back > next Thursday asking for shutting down the nodes, or even confiscation > of the equipment. Although wifi equipment has been widely extended in > Argentina, the concern is that looks like there are some old regulations > which require discretionary legalization for any radio equipment, and > CNC can invoke those regulations for this purpose. > > That's why IMHO we are facing a pre-alert situation in Argentina that > requires to stay tuned on how evolves. > > My first impression is that this kind of equipment and and this band is > very unlikely the cause for any disturbance for mobile operators, > therefore my first advice to them has been to cooperate with the > authorities for any technical assessments on site related to the > spectrum analysis, with the hope that the story will finish here. > > But in the meantime and just in case: > > 1. Please stay tuned in what happens next Thursday. In case of the > network being forced for shutdown or being confiscated, we plan to > release a press note reporting those facts, which we believe that > might be a serious injury of fundamental rights from citizens from > governments and large-corporations, so we will ask for you > cooperation disseminating though blogs and social networks worldwide. > 2. Does anybody know from a local legal contact from Argentina who may > assist this wireless community? If someone has a contact, please let > me know. > 3. Any other advice/idea? > > Thanks, > Ramon. > > Sorry for cross-posting, and in English for a wider audience. > Last friday, colleagues from a community wireless which is cooperating with > us in a small village in Argentina got a visit from representatives of the > CNC (Comisión Nacional de las Comunicaciones). Seems that the inspection was > caused by a claim from Telecom, a local mobile operator affiliated to > Movistar (Telefonica), arguing that was interfering to their backbone links. > The inspected nodes are actually composed by low cost wifi routers, working > al 2.4 band, using the Argentinian regulatory domain, which is region 2 of > the UIT (same as in the US), with a power between 50mW and 100mW and serving > Internet to a primary school, and some families in a low-income neighborhood. > Our colleagues are very much concerned because of the lack of regulations in > Argentina. Looks like those CNC officials will come back next Thursday asking > for shutting down the nodes, or even confiscation of the equipment. Although > wifi equipment has been widely extended in Argentina, the concern is that > looks like there are some old regulations which require discretionary > legalization for any radio equipment, and CNC can invoke those regulations > for this purpose. > That's why IMHO we are facing a pre-alert situation in Argentina that > requires to stay tuned on how evolves. > My first impression is that this kind of equipment and and this band is very > unlikely the cause for any disturbance for mobile operators, therefore my > first advice to them has been to cooperate with the authorities for any > technical assessments on site related to the spectrum analysis, with the hope > that the story will finish here. > But in the meantime and just in case: > Please stay tuned in what happens next Thursday. In case of the network being > forced for shutdown or being confiscated, we plan to release a press note > reporting those facts, which we believe that might be a serious injury of > fundamental rights from citizens from governments and large-corporations, so > we will ask for you cooperation disseminating though blogs and social > networks worldwide. > Does anybody know from a local legal contact from Argentina who may assist > this wireless community? If someone has a contact, please let me know. > Any other advice/idea? > Thanks, > Ramon. > _______________________________________________ > wsfii-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/wsfii-discuss > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/wsfii-discuss _______________________________________________ wsfii-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/wsfii-discuss Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/wsfii-discuss
