Actually, WiFi disproves that we'd have a tragedy of the commons.
> Having a limit across the board for all mass manufactured devices prevents an escalating spiral of vendors selling 30, then 40, then 50dbm etc routers.
No, the AP and the device both have a strong interest to limit the power used: not just to limit interference with other devices inside the home, but also to increase battery life!!
> but wink wink can be patched with easily googled instructions to increase the power to work better
I just don't understand why most posters here assume the worst by default. Most people are nice and want to obey the law.
WiFi proved that very little legal oversight was necessary to make it work.
In fact, it did the opposite: by comparing the efficiency of the use of the 2.4Ghz band (noisy with microwaves etc) to the rest of the spectrum managed by the heavy hand of the FCC, any reasonable person would argue for removing regulations or more parts of the spectrum (starting maybe with the huge chunks waste on HAM radio!)