October 09, 2003
Werbach to the Future?
Kevin Werbach says that we don't need no stinkin' rules for using spectrum.
With advances in wireless technology, any set of rules that declares some forms of transmission acceptable and others unacceptable will be inefficient. Something that interferes today may not interfere tomorrow, as devices get smarter and more adaptive. So let's eliminate the rules, allow everyone to transmit however they wish, and use a liability system to deal with conflicts.
I can't say that I like the sound of that. Getting rid of property rights and then saying "let the court system handle it" strikes me as a recipe for mayhem. I definitely agree that today's property rights ("you have the right to broadcast television over this frequency, but not deliver cell phone calls") are antiquated. I do think that some other form of clearly-defined property rights are needed.
UPDATE: For a better reading on Werbach's ideas, see Regulate Hardware, not Ether.
Posted by Arnold at 3:35 PM |
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telecom, FCC
We don't have to get rid of existing rights. I say in the article that the liability approach can operate in parallel with current frequency-based allocations. It can also work alongside the spectrum property rights that people like Tom Hazlett and Peter Huber advocate, though I have reservations about that approach. As for the court system, who do you think would referee disputes about "clearly-defined property rights?"
The Feature piece is a summary of a much more detailed law review article (draft at "http://werbach.com/research/supercommons.pdf) that will appear in the Spring.
Posted by Kevin Werbach on October 9, 2003 04:43 PM | Permalink to Comment
We don't have to get rid of existing rights. I say in the article that the liability approach can operate in parallel with current frequency-based allocations. It can also work alongside the spectrum property rights that people like Tom Hazlett and Peter Huber advocate, though I have reservations about that approach. As for the court system, who do you think would referee disputes about "clearly-defined property rights?"
The Feature piece is a summary of a much more detailed law review article (draft at "http://werbach.com/research/supercommons.pdf) that will appear in the Spring.
Posted by Kevin Werbach on October 9, 2003 04:43 PM | Permalink to Comment