Michael "Director of the New America Foundation Spectrum Policy Program" Calabrese. Although easements offer some compromise, this converts common ownership of the airwaves by the American public to one where the spectrum is owned by a few. If there is any property interest in spectrum, it's the right to freely use the airwaves in your home, business and community. Preventing interference justified regulation, but increased propertization could turn sharing into trespassing.
Licenses themselves are easements against the public's ownership of the airwaves and speech rights. Flexibility can be accomplished through licenses from limited, short periods. Spectrum scarcity isn't inevitable — exclusive licenses are scarce, not spectrum. Cognitive radio can ease scarcity, property rights foreclose their possibility.
Regarding the Big Bang — auctioning as much spectrum as possible — a better Big Bang could be achieved now by moving to spectrum leasing with limited terms. Rather than giving away the public's property, the FCC could offer incumbents flexible, property-like rights in exchange for modest lease payments.
