As a result, would-be innovators never know if spectrum will be available for their new inventions. Consequently, they can't factor it into a business plan, or build new wireless applications in their garage knowing that the necessary spectrum will be available to their future customers.

In an effort to encourage innovation, critics of the current model have proposed radical - and radically different — reforms. Some say spectrum should be treated like 'property', giving purchasers the same rights afforded any property owner, including the right to exclude others from using it, and the right to transfer ownership. In contrast, proponents of a 'commons' model argue that spectrum is like a stream that belongs to all of us, and that current technological innovations allow sharing of the resource - a practical, not moral, argument.

Nobel Prize winning economist Ronald Coase criticized the FCC's spectrum policy in 1959, arguing that rules preempting private ownership of spectrum led to catastrophic inefficiencies in the market. Both the 'property' and 'commons' proponents claim that Coase's theory supports their model, and that each view best promotes market efficiency and innovation.

At "Spectrum Policy: Property or Commons?" leading figures in this debate will explain their views on today's wireless technology and market conditions, and discuss the complex implications of the competing models. Then they'll debate their positions before a blue ribbon panel of judges: renowned economist Harold Demsetz, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski, and Dr. Vernon Smith, the Recipient Nobel Prize for Economics, in 2002 of George Mason University.

The aim of the day will be to explore both paradigms, their relationships to the work of Ronald Coase, and the vital unanswered questions facing the future of spectrum management.

Cory Doctorow blogged the whole thing here.

Doc gives the frequency question some background of his own.