Value chain · CLM-1042
In plain terms
In 1978 a programme lawyer noticed that a power beam carries no message, so the ITU's rulebook did not obviously cover it, and found the ITU's way in was through interference with everyone else.
The claim as recorded
The programme's second 1978 legal paper asks whether microwave power transmission is a "telecommunication" under the ITU Convention's definition - "any transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, and sounds of intelligence" - finds that a power beam "does not appear to involve anything that is normally identified by" those words, so that on the conventional reading "the ITU would appear to have no competence over them", and then concludes the ITU has competence anyway because "any harmful interference even though arising out of a source other than communications would fall under ITU's competence" and because the satellite needs ordinary telecommand frequencies; it further concludes the ITU would also have to determine geostationary orbital positions.
Evidence behind this: T3, one author's legal paper for the programme, 1978; an argument, not a ruling.
Scope and limits
A 1978 READING OF THE 1973 MALAGA-TORREMOLINOS CONVENTION; the definition and the Radio Regulations have been revised since. Grove and Christol (CLM-1041) disagree on whether the ITU's slot role exists. Grove's transcription reads "sounds of intelligence of any nature"; the ITU Convention's own text is believed to read "sounds or intelligence" (not checked against a held copy); the record quotes Grove.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.37, raw: "signs, signals, writing, images, and sounds of intelligence". PDF p.38, normalised: "Power transmission by microwaves does not appear to involve anything that is normally identified by the words". PDF p.39, raw: "the ITU would appear to have no competence over them"; normalised: "any harmful interference even though arising out of a source other than communications would fall under ITU's competence". PDF p.40, normalised: "strong arguments appear to support the proposition that ITU has competence to deal with such frequencies"; "orbital positions" present on the page, the sentence broken across a line.
Basis: the ITU Convention's definition of telecommunication as read in 1978
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-017 not published in this releaseQST-019 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1042
CLM-1042, Energy Aperture, as of 1978.