The San Marino Scale: A new analytical tool for assessing transmission risk

Nearly everyone is familiar with the Richter Scale for quantifying earthquake severity. Can we similarly quantify the potential hazard of active SETI, that is, transmitting signals into space from Earth? The San Marino Scale is an attempt to do just that. It is an ordinal scale between 1 and 10, used to quantify the potential risk of employing electromagnetic communications technology to announce Earth's presence to our cosmic companions, or to reply to a successful SETI detection. In this paper, we present the rationale behind the San Marino Scale, its history, precedents, structure, regulatory implications, and potential applications in assessing the probable impact of an admittedly controversial activity.