Digital Commons Network^™

Behavioral Advertising: The Cryptic Hunter And Gatherer Of The Internet, Joanna Penn

Federal Communications Law Journal

In an era where three out of every four Americans have Internet access, the term "surfing" has transformed from riding waves into running the risk of having private information gathered, stored, and disseminated-all without the user's knowledge or permission. This new found online practice, known as "behavioral advertising," is a veritable goldmine for those companies that know the game. But will the FTC or Congress soon make new rules concerning how to play? This Note begins by explaining the differences between behavioral targeting and retargeting and the techniques that the two methods use to collect data. This Note then explores …

Wiretapping The Internet: The Expansion Of The Communications Assistance To Law Enforcement Act To Extend Government Surveillance, Christa M. Hibbard

Federal Communications Law Journal

Criminal use of the Internet to circumvent traditional government phone wiretaps has inspired the Obama Administration to create a proposal to expand the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act ("CALEA"). CALEA was passed in 1994 to regulate telephone and broadband companies to ensure compliance with standards to enable government wiretapping. The proposed amendment of CALEA would allow the government to require all communications service providers to meet technical standards necessary to comply with a wiretap order. The expansion of CALEA would likely widen its scope to social networking sites, instant messaging, gaming consoles that allow conversation among multiple players, and …

From Betamax To Youtube: How Sony Corporation Of America V. Universal City Studios, Inc. Could Still Be A Standard For New Technology, Veronica Corsaro

Federal Communications Law Journal

Internet technological innovations, particularly the development of Peer-to-Peer ("P2P") networks and the proliferation of user-generated content sites, have introduced considerable challenges for the application of copyright law and infringement liability. The response from the courts and Congress has been mixed, with severe legal curtails being applied to P2P technology while usergenerated content sites have been afforded a level of protection against infringement claims as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's section 512 "safe harbor" provisions. However, these provisions have raised concerns about the issue of secondary copyright liability, a matter that has still been left undefined. This Note will …

Internet Governance And Democratic Legitimacy, Oliver Sylvain

Federal Communications Law Journal

Even as the Internet goes pop, federal policymakers continue to surrender their statutory obligation to regulate communications in the first instance to extralegal nongovernmental organizations comprised of technical experts. The FCC's adjudication of a dispute concerning a major broadband service provider's network management practices is a case in point. There, in the absence of any enforceable legislative or regulatory rule, the FCC turned principally to the transmission principles of the Internet Engineering Taskforce, the preeminent nongovernmental Internet engineering standard-setting organization. This impulse to defer as a matter of course to such an organization without any legal mechanism requiring as much …

Creating Effective Broadband Network Regulation, Daniel L. Brenner

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Internet is central to the business and pastimes of Americans. Calls for increased regulation are ongoing, inevitable, and often justified. But calls for "network neutrality" or "nondiscrimination" assume with little hesitation federal agency competence to give predictable and accurate meaning to these terms and create regulations to implement them. This Article's chief contribution to Internet policy debate is to focus attention on the likelihood of successful FCC Internet regulation-a key assumption of some advocates.

The Article analyzes three characteristics that hobble the FCC, which is the likeliest federal agency to provide prescriptive rules. First, the record for the agency …

Virtually Enabled: How Title Iii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Might Be Applied To Online Virtual Worlds, Joshua Newton

Federal Communications Law Journal

The rise and popularity of online virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life, holds significant promise for people with disabilities. For people who are unable to easily leave home or travel, virtual worlds provide a public venue, wherein people may interact freely without the social stigma that accompanies disability. However, access to these virtual worlds may be inhibited by physical, visual, or aural impairments, and virtual-world developers can be hostile to modifying their products to mitigate these difficulties. Thus, some disability advocates have turned to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing that places of …

Whose Burden Is It Anyway? Addressing The Needs Of Content Owners In Dmca Safe Harbors, Greg Janson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Much of today's network neutrality debate addresses concerns that cable providers will limit access to competing Web-based services delivering multimedia content. While proposals to mandate nondiscrimination for all Internet traffic surely will help create a competitive environment where online entertainment providers can prosper, ISP interference is not the only threat. Online entertainment sites that relay user-generated content are threatened by crippling litigation brought by copyright holders for actions taken by third parties using their services. Reliance on the safe harbors provided in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has, in most cases, proved unsuccessful. This Note addresses the concerns of both …

The Never-Ending Limits Of § 230: Extending Isp Immunity To The Sexual Exploitation Of Children, Katy Noeth

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas extended civil liability to Yahoo! under § 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that it could not be sued for knowingly profiting from a Web site where members exchanged sexually explicit pictures of minors. The court found that the reasoning of the seminal § 230 case, Zeran v. AOL, was analogous and that policy considerations mandated its holding.

This Note argues that a multifaceted approach is needed to prevent future courts from following that decision, including an amendment to § 230 that would impose civil liability upon …

Rethinking The Communications Decency Act: Eliminating Statutory Protections Of Discriminatory Housing Advertisements On The Internet, James D. Shanahan

Federal Communications Law Journal

The recent decision in Craigslist signals a drastic reduction in the effectiveness of the prohibition on discriminatory housing advertisements under the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"). Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gives blanket immunity to Internet Content Providers from publisher liability for content originating from third parties. One of the effects of this immunity is the creation of a monopoly for discriminatory advertisements otherwise proscribed by the FHA. This Note argues that the simplest solution for Congress is to adjust the language of § 230 by adding the FHA to the list of exceptions to statutory immunity.

Who Controls The Internet? A Review, Deborah J. Salons

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Oxford University Press 2006.

Ms. Salons reviews Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Oxford University Press, 2006. Authored by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, the book provides a history of the Internet and analyzes the nexus between globalization and government coercion. The book focuses on how these agents have shaped and developed the Internet as we are familiar with it today.

The Law Of Unintended Consequences, Susan Ness

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Interconnection Policy And Technological Progress, Gerald W. Brock

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Failure Of Competition Under The 1996 Telecommunications Act, Gene Kimmelman, Mark Cooper, Magda Herra

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act, Jim Robbins

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Digital Crossroads, Kathleen Wallman

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age, Jonathan E. Nuechterlein & Philip J. Weiser, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2005, 670 pages.

A review of Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age, by Jonathan E. Nuechterlein and Philip J. Weiser, MIT Press, 2005. Most practitioners of communications law are familiar with the necessity of teaching themselves enough economics, engineering, and politics to practice competently and comfortably in an area that is inherently interdisciplinary. Likewise, many professors who teach telecommunications from a variety of disciplinary perspectives are familiar with the frustration of locating a text that …

A Horizontal Leap Forward: Formulating A New Communications Public Policy Framework Based On The Network Layers Model, Richard S. Whitt

Federal Communications Law Journal

Over the course of the last several decades, legal and structural fictions have evolved and have been integrated into the reality of communications theory and regulation. In this Article, the Author argues that the development of a "layers approach" to communications regulation of IP networks would lead to greater efficiencies while addressing public policy issues. By reconceptualizing communications regulation along horizontal layers, Mr. Whitt posits that the logical walls surrounding the key components of IP networks should be removed to promote increased functionality of communications oversight and management. In this way, the outmoded vertical separation associated with the legal legacy …

Staying Afloat In The Internet Stream: How To Keep Web Radio From Drowning In Digital Copyright Royalties, Emily D. Harwood

Federal Communications Law Journal

In the 1990's, the development of "streaming" technology allowed webcasters to begin broadcasting music on the Internet. The public took advantage of a plethora of free media players, and the number of web-based radio stations soared. However, a crippling dispute over broadcast rates left the viability of this technology in doubt. This Note criticizes current policies that curtail radio streaming by providing harsh financial restrictions on webcasters. In looking to the future, this Note argues that Congress should extend licensing exemptions to cover those Internet stations most like their AM/FM counterparts who do not have to pay additional fees.

Promoting Innovation To Prevent The Internet From Becoming A Wasteland, Zoe Baird

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Vast Wasteland To Electronic Garden: Responsibilities In The New Video Environment, Charles M. Firestone

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.