An ipad technology ownership question

[the8thark]

I read this on the net. Somewhere. Someone claims this:

The necessary technology for actually having a Wifi device is owned by the CSIRO (Scientific Office of the Australian Government). When you buy Wifi, you support basic research in Australia.

CSIRO is actually "Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation". But is that statement I read true?

[edit] Well yes I read somwewhere Australians invented Wi-Fi. I just don't remember where I read it. Anyone want to throw a link at me?

 

[chas_m]

Actually, the person who REALLY laid the groundwork for almost all the wireless communications we enjoy today was ... Hedy Lamarr! Seriously! She and her husband (a composer) invented the idea of spread-spectrum frequency hopping, the core of nearly everything that transmits or receives wireless signals today.

CSIRO claim to have specifically invented bits of what we now call 802.11, but they are still in court trying to prove it ... and have been for 14 years now. Time will eventually tell what role their work *truly* played, but no -- CSIRO does not get a royalty every time you "buy wifi" (what does that even mean exactly)?

As for links, here ya go: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia