Law Commons^™

The Convergence Of Broadcasting And Telephony: Legal And Regulatory Implications, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

This article, written for the inaugural issue of a new journal, analyzes the extent to which the convergence of broadcasting and telephony induced by the digitization of communications technologies is forcing policymakers to rethink their basic approach to regulating these industries. Now that voice and video are becoming available through every transmission technology, policymakers can no longer define the scope of regulatory obligations in terms of the mode of transmission. In addition, jurisdictions that employ separate agencies to regulate broadcasting and telephony must reform their institutional structures to bring both within the ambit of a single regulatory agency. The emergence …

Tucker Lecture, Law And Media Symposium, Erwin Chemerinsky

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Rationing The Infinite, Leonard M. Niehoff

Michigan Law Review

This Review raises a number of objections to Baker's arguments and proposals. Furthermore, this Review raises the fundamental question of whether Baker's central operating assumption-that media is a scarce resource that should be fairly distributed-remains timely in light of the far-reaching and fast-paced changes wrought by the internet. Nevertheless, this Review also recognizes that, as with Baker's prior works, Media Concentration and Democracy makes a serious contribution to the discussion of the political, social, and economic dynamics that challenge the existence of a strong and independent media. Media Concentration and Democracy does a better job of raising questions than of …

Network Neutrality After Comcast: Toward A Case-By-Case Approach To Reasonable Network Management, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Communications Commission’s recent Comcast decision has rejected categorical, ex ante restrictions on Internet providers’ ability to manage their networks in favor of a more flexible approach that examines each dispute on a case-by-case basis, as I have long advocated. This book chapter, written for a conference held in February 2009, discusses the considerations that a case-by-case approach should take into account. First, allowing the network to evolve will promote innovation by allowing the emergence of applications that depend on a fundamentally different network architecture. Indeed, as the universe of Internet users and applications becomes more heterogeneous, it is …

Wireless Net Neutrality Regulation And The Problem With Pricing: An Empirical, Cautionary Tale, Babette E.L. Boliek

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

I present here a unique empirical analysis of the consumer welfare benefits of prior regulation in the mobile telecommunications industry. In particular, I analyze the relative consumer benefits of state rate regulation and federal entry regulation. The institution of filing requirements and FTC review and approval of various consumer pricing regimes is highly analogous to the consumer price controls imposed by various state level public utility commissions in the past. Furthermore, the imposition of a zero-price rule is analogous to past rate regulation; in particular it is similar to past wholesale regulation with its underlying principles of open access and …

Fcc Jurisdiction Over Isps In Protocol-Specific Bandwidth Throttling, Andrew Gioia

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Over the past decade, the Internet has matured from its dial-up infancy into the nation's dominant communications infrastructure. Such rapid growth and accessibility--while fostering free speech and innovation like nothing before--has nonetheless created complex regulatory and policy questions for both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the cable companies providing the nation's broadband Internet access. For instance, Comcast, one such Internet provider, has recently brought to the fore the question of how, and to what extent, the FCC can ensure an open and accessible Internet through the company's recent actions in selectively targeting and interfering with the connections of certain …

Toward A Broadband Public Interest Standard, Anthony E. Varona

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Although they emerged seven decades apart, commercial broadcasting and the Internet were greeted with similar excited declarations of their potential to transform American democracy by hosting an electronic free marketplace of ideas that would inform and enlighten citizens and catalyze discussion on issues of public importance. The federal government played a central role in the initial development and proliferation of both technologies, but then assumed very different regulatory orientations to the two industries once they were commercialized. In broadcasting, the government took on an interventionist posture promoting civic republican First Amendment values by means of a variety of public interest …

Licensed Anarchy: Anything Goes On The Internet - Revisiting The Boundaries Of Section 230 Protection, Thomas D. Huycke

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.