Werbach's OnlyConnect paper . . . not to be missed

Kevin Werbach has to be one of the most interesting and clear thinking communications law/policy people around. He was one of the first to suggest a layers-based approach to communications policy and he's now got a terrific draft paper on the advantages/disadvantages of interconnection vs non-discrimination policies; called Only Connect.

In a nutshell, Werbach makes an interesting (if a bit strained) distinction between "broadband discrimination" (such as a single network provider blocking an IP or disallowing customer practices like server hosting) and "access tiering" (where multiple networks might conspire to prioritize some "content" - either based on application or origin - across their networks) and then proceeds to argue that network neutrality proponents are mistakenly promoting a non-discrimination policy to address what is essentially an interconnection issue ("access tiering"). Moreover, he generally seems to feel interconnection policy is a better tool than non-discrimination and further, that network neutrality advocates ought to consider an interconnection-based alternative.

I'm not entirely convinced. At times Werbach equivocates tremendously. At one point he makes the claim that interconnection benefits competition, while non-discrimination benefits consumers. He qualifies the statement as an oversimplification and then footnotes the obvious - and by no means minor - ways in which the converse is actually the case. Nevertheless, the paper is a great overview and he raises many of the most important and overlooked aspects of the ongoing debate surrounding digital communications regulation.

Also, if you haven't read his paper on the Federal Computer Commission, get a copy; it's going to be a classic someday. (North Carolina Law Review, 12/2005)