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Full-Text Articles in Communications Law

The First Amendment Case Against Fcc Ip Telephony Regulation, Tuan N. Samahon Mar 1999

The First Amendment Case Against Fcc Ip Telephony Regulation, Tuan N. Samahon

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Comment argues that IP telephony, like handbills and traditional print media, deserves First Amendment protection against FCC regulatory authority. After briefly reviewing the IP telephony phenomenon within the larger context of "digital convergence," the Comment examines the FCC and Supreme Court’s technologically driven First Amendment jurisprudence—particularly, the First Amendment’s conspicuous absence from the IP telephony dialogue, and, correspondingly, the prominence of assurances of regulatory forbearance in Congress, the courts, and the FCC. In response, the Author offers First Amendment content-based and content-neutral arguments against the proposed telephony regulations. At the very least, the affordability and innovation IP telephony offers …


Schizophrenia Among Carriers: How Common And Private Carriers Trade Places, Rob Frieden Jun 1997

Schizophrenia Among Carriers: How Common And Private Carriers Trade Places, Rob Frieden

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This article will examine court cases and actions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that distort the traditional concepts of common and private carriage by establishing new rights and responsibilities previously applicable to the other category of carrier. This article will also consider the feasibility of (a) maintaining the traditional common carrier regulatory model and (b) continuing the application of that model to basic services provided by local exchange carriers (LECs). This is especially important as LECs qualify to become private carriers tapping new market opportunities, even within the same geographical region where they provide basic services. Finally, this article …


The Information Highway Must Pay Its Way Through Cities: A Discussion Of The Authority Of State And Local Governments To Be Compensated For The Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way, Clarence A. West Jun 1995

The Information Highway Must Pay Its Way Through Cities: A Discussion Of The Authority Of State And Local Governments To Be Compensated For The Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way, Clarence A. West

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

In the ever-changing telecommunications industry there appears to be an enormous amount of confusion not only as to the appropriate amount of compensation chargeable to the users of public rights-of-way, but also as to the very authority of state and local governments to require compensation. This was not always the case. It has long been a well-settled legal principle that local governments may receive reasonable "rental" compensation from private commercial entities for their use of local public property for private economic gain, even where federal statutory law restricts local governments from denying access to rights-of-way for telecommunications services. For example, …


Reforming Fcc Regulation Of Dominant Telephone Carriers: Putting Some Teeth Into The Test For Predation, Thomas K. Gump May 1993

Reforming Fcc Regulation Of Dominant Telephone Carriers: Putting Some Teeth Into The Test For Predation, Thomas K. Gump

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note examines the ineffective protections against predatory pricing by AT&T contained in the price cap scheme. Part I outlines price cap regulation and explains how the FCC hopes that a test based on the average variable cost standard will detect predatory pricing. Part II argues that the FCC erred in adopting an average variable cost standard as the test for telecommunications predation because that standard ignores the high fixed costs common to all firms in the industry. Part II demonstrates that AT&T could engage in predatory pricing despite the protections contained in the regulatory scheme. Part II then examines …


American Broadcasting And The First Amendment, René L. Todd May 1989

American Broadcasting And The First Amendment, René L. Todd

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Broadcasting and the First Amendment by Lucas A. Powe, Jr.


Misregulating Television: Network Dominance And The Fcc, Robert R. Morse Jr. Apr 1986

Misregulating Television: Network Dominance And The Fcc, Robert R. Morse Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Misregulating Television: Network Dominance and the FCC by Stanley M. Besen, Thomas G. Krattenmaker, A. Richard Metzger, Jr. and John R. Woodbury


The Power Of The Fcc To Regulate Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership: The Need For Congressional Clarification, Michigan Law Review Aug 1977

The Power Of The Fcc To Regulate Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership: The Need For Congressional Clarification, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The controversy surrounding the FCC's Second Report and . Order, its appeal, and the subsequent decision in NCCB raises basic questions concerning the statutory authority of the FCC to promulgate rules concerning newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership. This Note suggests that the FCC, notwithstanding judicial affirmation in NCCB of the Commission's authority to adopt such rules, might well be exercising more authority than Congress intended it to possess under the Communications Act of 1934. This Note therefore concludes that, irrespective of the merits of the Second Report and Order, Congress should reexamine and clarify the scope of the FCC's power in this regard.


The Fcc Computer Inquiry: Interfaces Of Competitive And Regulated Markets, Michigan Law Review Nov 1972

The Fcc Computer Inquiry: Interfaces Of Competitive And Regulated Markets, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Since the advent of computer technology, data processing and communication services have become increasingly interdependent. In 1966, the Federal Communications Commission launched the Computer Inquiry to explore the broad range of regulatory and policy problems generated by this technological development.2