—Technology advancements fueled by 5G and up- coming 6G standards are driving the expansion of wireless services across various industries. However, this growth presents challenges for regulatory bodies tasked with managing harm- ful interference. Current interference protection criteria (IPC), which rely solely on radio frequency (RF) signal power levels, have limitations as they overlook the inherent robustness and adaptability to interference of the diverse technologies. This article explores how different RF interference threshold values impact communication quality across different layers of the pro- tocol stack. It argues that significant improvements in spectrum usage can be achieved by adopting a data-driven approach and considering information about the services and technologies used by current or anticipated spectrum users when assessing suitable IPC. Index Terms —Interference Protection, Data-driven I. I NTRODUCTION Evolving consumer needs are driving the expansion of wire- less services into many areas including traditional telecommu- nications and mobile connectivity. Furthermore, the deploy- ment of advanced standards such as 5G, 5G-Advanced, and the upcoming 6G standardization effort is enhancing speed, capacity, and latency for a variety of diverse use cases. This expansion is placing increased pressure on the manage- ment practices of spectrum regulatory authorities. Specifically, it challenges their ability to effectively coordinate and mitigate the impacts of harmful interference among a diversity of technologies sharing the spectrum in frequency, geography, and time. To clarify the level of interference protection that is afforded to spectrum users, regulatory authorities often define interfer- ence protection criteria (IPC). These criteria typically consist of technical parameters detailing the nature of interference and specifying methods for measuring and quantifying harmful interference. Typically, IPC rely on comparing the power level of the interfering radio frequency (RF) signal with other RF signals, such as noise or carrier power [1]. However, IPC based solely on RF signal power levels have limitations. They often operate under worst-case assumptions, employ a conservative one-size-fits-all approach and overlook the inherent resilience of the impacted technologies when defining harmful interference. This article examines the effects of harmful interference on the communication quality across various layers of the com- munication protocol stack. It presents a data-driven analysis of spectrum sharing between existing or incumbent services and new spectrum users accessing the same resources. It is shownthat the dependence on an RF-centric IPC with relatively conservative threshold values reduces the effective sharing of spectrum. Previous research in this field has typically followed one of two paths: either addressing RF interference effects across various layers of the communications protocol stack [2] or refining current IPC models to enhance accuracy [3]. The specific contributions of this article are threefold. Firstly, the article provides evidence of data-driven analysis identifying sharing scenarios whereby the interference be- tween new entrants is a limiting factor in the IPC rather than between new entrants and incumbent systems. Secondly, based on these limitations, a mathematical model is presented to quantify the effects of examining harmful interference in higher-layers of the protocol stack. Lastly, results from the model are presented to examine the trade-offs between quality of service (QoS), number of new spectrum entrants and throughput in the higher layers. The remainder of the article is as follows. First, current interference protection for spectrum management is discussed. Next, the concept of interference assessment at higher layers in the protocol stack is introduced. This is followed by a description of the data-driven modelling approach including a case study on interference for spectrum sharing. Results and analysis are then presented, followed by concluding remarks. II. I NTERFERENCE PROTECTION IN SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT Spectrum authorities typically manage interference by em- ploying various mechanisms to separate systems based on frequency, distance, or time [4] [5]. The primary goal is to minimise the risk of causing harmful interference to the operations of spectrum users. The degree of separation in these dimensions is determined by the acceptable level of performance degradation, or the level of protection required for existing primary users or between new spectrum users. An IPC is used for maintaining the quality and reliability of radiocommunication services by defining acceptable levels of interference. The IPC typically encompasses definitions of interference metrics, their corresponding threshold levels, the bandwidth over which interference is measured, and the percentage of time that the interfering signal must exceed the threshold level [1]. Two commonly used IPC metrics for quantifying interfer- ence are based on either the interference-to-noise ratio (I/N) or the carrier-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (C/(I+N)). The I/N ratio