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Spectrum Is a Public Good

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Clay Shirky, who I met at Microsoft Research's social computing symposium earlier this year, has posted an engrossing essay on the issue of spectrum allocation in the United States and ongoing discussions at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about whether and how to open more spectrum up to unlicensed use "for the public good".

Spectrum allocation in the United States amounts to nothing less than a gigantic and surreptitious corporate giveaway. Granting sole proprietorship of the portion of the spectrum upon which channel 4 or channel 5's signal rides is like building a super-highway between Seattle and Redmond (a route notorious for heavy traffic) for the sole use of Microsoft and its employees and then watching them use only one of eight lanes while everyone else sits in four lanes of stop and go traffic. Spectrum "ownership" is the most repugnant sort of government giveaway because it enables its beneficiaries (tenured television stations and the companies and individuals that own them) to concentrate their power and wealth, especially their domination of the public airwaves and their ability to shape public opinion, over time. It's the worst sort of giveaway because it deprives non-enfranchised individuals, corporations, and even government agencies such as your Police and Fire departments of the ability to create and utilize innovative new technologies to produce more public goods.

On the bright side, the FCC, led by Michael Powell, has been floating some interesting policy proposals such as HDTV and other spectrum efficiency enhancements that lead me to believe that long overdue reforms just might be afoot. Time will tell.

Shirky’s essay, The Possibility of Spectrum as a Public Good, adds significant background to my recent proposal to provide wireless broadband Internet access throughout the City of Redmond. His essay also asks some thought-provoking questions. Here’s one particularly juicy paragraph,

"As we've seen with Wifi, a small slice of spectrum can become an enormous platform for innovation and user-created value. The kinds of economic activity we've seen in the limited example of Wifi can be realized on a much broader scale. The only issue now is whether and how the FCC manages its proposed transmutation of small slices of spectrum away from property rights and towards a model that regulates spectrum as a public good."

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