Ham radio is also a key element in an empowered citizenry. Virtually every other communications technology available to individual citizens is either short-range or must travel through a variety of gatekeepers. CB radio, for example, is easily available, but only has a few miles of effective range.

Our telephones and Internet connections all travel through switches operated by large companies, regulated by the federal government. You may be able to place a free phone call via Skype, but that call ultimately must travel from your computer, through your ISP's network, through a variety of other networks, possibly through the NSA's ECHELON signal monitoring stations, and then through your conversation partner's ISP, and finally to your conversation partner.

Computing Unplugged analysis
During times of crisis, telephone and Internet communications may be limited, crippled, or disabled completely. In such a case, the only long distance point-to-point communication that doesn't travel through a gatekeeper and can't be arbitrarily shut down is ham radio, in the hands of citizen guardians of our radio spectrum.

There is a worst-case scenario here that we find quite disturbing. As improbable as it seems, there may come a time when governments may wish to restrict individual communication. At this time, it would be possible for governments to "turn off" the Internet and telephone communications. It was not possible for governments to "turn off" ham radio communication -- at least, until now.

If BPL were widely deployed in a universal electric grid, and if the BPL deployment design was one that actively disrupted ham radio operation, governments would now have a method to disrupt the one remaining long distance, point-to-point citizen communications mechanism that previously was unstoppable.

It's a highly unlikely scenario here in the US, but a chilling one nonetheless. In other, more totalitarian countries, it's far less unlikely.

Official Computing Unplugged recommendations for BPL
We've devoted more editorial space on this topic than any other independent publication. As we complete our extensive coverage, we will have published 12 articles on the topic. In fact, we completely scrapped our summer publishing calendar when ham operators responded to what was a simple interview. They also helped us understand this was, indeed, a very important issue and we've been following it ever since.

We approached this topic with absolutely no ties to either side. We are about as objective as any publication is likely to be. The BPL industry has been highly supportive and professional in the face of a firestorm of criticism. Technically expert ham radio operators also provided detailed input and analysis, and we've published many of their opinions and analysis in their entirety.

After careful consideration, we find domestic BPL, as currently implemented, an unacceptable risk.

Given that we make our living here at ZATZ Publishing distributing information over broadband, it's in our best interests to have the universal broadband coverage that BPL promises. However, it is important to consider the ratio between risk and reward. BPL is far from the only method of gaining broadband access. Most Americans can get broadband from their cable companies, through DSL providers, through extended WiFi implementations, and even through so-called 3G cellphone services like EV-DO.