When this kind of discussion arises - which it does quite frequently on both sides of the Atlantic, I think it is worth taking a step back and looking at the history of radio in order to understand the background to licencing. A lot of hams - particularly the old guard - seem to think that licencing exists to protect elitism in amateur radio. CBers come at the bottom of the pile - they have done nothing to earn their licences - but "no-coders" who have gained HF access simply by the removal of the morse test and "foundation licence" holders who have gained a licence by ticking the correct couple of dozen boxes on a multiple choice test are little better. But amateur radio licences are just one class of licence that the FCC or OFCOM issue - they are equally responsible for issuing broadcasting licences, marine radio licences, aeronautical licences and many other classes. They have no interest in helping us maintain our artificial elitist structure, they are just there to maintain an adequate level of discipline in the use of the radio bands.
Licencing dates back more than a hundred years to a time when radio equipment was a lot less sophisticated and radio communications was a lot more strategic. Look back to Titanic in 1912 - radio was the only form of communications with a ship that was over the horizon. Radios were spark-gap with signals that were tens or hundreds of kilohertz wide and frequencies above 1MHz were a black art. The radio spectrum was an incredibly valuable resource and lives would be lost if misuse blocked an SOS call. Access to that spectrum was strictly controlled. Most governments recognised the value of amateurs who were experimenting and developing the technology and they also recognised the value of having a pool of experienced operators that they could call upon, But they also recognised that they also needed to maintain the discipline and they introduced some strict licencing rules.
This situation continued more or less until the late 20th century. The development of valves got us away from spark-gaps and we could make better use of spectrum with narrow band transmissions, but until satellites became relatively cheap to own and operate, we were stuck with a pretty limited spectrum that would support long distance communications. Then, in a short period of time, along came satellites, computers and the internet. Entertainment pretty much abandoned the HF bands together with the military and most marine communications. Even VHF is moving ever upwards - nobody wants our beloved HF bands! The FCC and OFCOM will continue to go through the motions of trying to police the HF bands, but we are increasingly an irrelevance to them. If you were to fire up your rig, spin the dial and plant your carrier on a random frequency between 3MHZ and 30MHz and start broadcasting garbage at a couple of kW, the chances of you causing inconvenience to anyone that the FCC cares about is close to zero.
So, the reason for issuing licences is rapidly disappearing. It was never to protect the ego of someone that has passed a load of technical exams and proved that they can operate CW at 50wpm. It was to stop an idiot with a transmitter blocking the SOS call from another Titanic or communications between a bomber and its base - and almost all that traffic has now moved to microwaves bounced off satellites. Governments will continue to go through the motions for a while yet - but in an increasingly hands-off manner. It is already the case that licence applications in Britain are processed on-line, free of cost, and with no human input at OFCOM. Your behaviour on air here has to be pretty terrible before anyone at OFCOM will think it worthwhile to get out the DF gear and track you down!
Martin (G8FXC)