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Full-Text Articles in Law

State Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons Oct 2019

State Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

For nearly a century, state regulators played an important role in telecommunications regulation. The 1934 Communications Act gave the Federal Communications Commission authority to regulate interstate telephone service, but explicitly left intrastate calls—which comprised 98% of Depression-era telephone traffic—to state public utility commissions. By the late 2000s, however, as landline telephony faded to obscurity, scholars and policymakers alike recognized that the era of comprehensive state telecommunications regulation had largely come to an end.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, the first years of the Trump Administration have seen a resurgence in state telecommunications regulation—driven not by state institutional concerns, but by policy disagreements …


Toll-Free Assignment Modernization And The Triumph Of Coase, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

Toll-Free Assignment Modernization And The Triumph Of Coase, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


To Narrow The Digital Divide, The Fcc Should Not Simply Extend Lifeline To Broadband, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

To Narrow The Digital Divide, The Fcc Should Not Simply Extend Lifeline To Broadband, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


The Congressional Review Act And The Toxic Politics Of Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

The Congressional Review Act And The Toxic Politics Of Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


The Antideficiency Act Charade: A Low-Key Separation Of Powers Drama, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

The Antideficiency Act Charade: A Low-Key Separation Of Powers Drama, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


E-Rulemaking And The Politicization Of The Comment Process, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

E-Rulemaking And The Politicization Of The Comment Process, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Revisiting Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

Revisiting Net Neutrality, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


The Administrative Law Of Deregulation: The Long Road For The Trump Administration To Undo Obama-Era Regulations, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

The Administrative Law Of Deregulation: The Long Road For The Trump Administration To Undo Obama-Era Regulations, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


The Right Way To Protect Privacy Throughout The Internet Ecosystem, Daniel A. Lyons Apr 2019

The Right Way To Protect Privacy Throughout The Internet Ecosystem, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Narrowing The Digital Divide: A Better Broadband Universal Service Program, Daniel Lyons Jan 2019

Narrowing The Digital Divide: A Better Broadband Universal Service Program, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

Universal service has long been an integral component of American telecommunications policy. As more activities move online, it becomes increasingly important to narrow the digital divide by helping low-income Americans get online and by extending broadband networks into unserved areas.

Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission’s reforms are unlikely to help solve this problem. The Commission is repurposing an $8 billion telephone subsidy program to focus instead on broadband networks. But when pressed, the agency admits that it has no proof that the program meaningfully affected telephone adoption rates, and it offers little evidence that it will fare any better at …


Proposed Arbitration Ban Would Be Bad Law And Bad Policy, Daniel A. Lyons Mar 2017

Proposed Arbitration Ban Would Be Bad Law And Bad Policy, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Net Neutrality’S Path To The Supreme Court: Chevron And The “Major Questions” Exception, Daniel A. Lyons Mar 2017

Net Neutrality’S Path To The Supreme Court: Chevron And The “Major Questions” Exception, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


How Should Courts Consider Agency Remarks During The Comment Period?, Daniel A. Lyons Mar 2017

How Should Courts Consider Agency Remarks During The Comment Period?, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Protecting States’ Interests In The Brave New World Of Energy Federalism, Daniel Lyons Aug 2016

Protecting States’ Interests In The Brave New World Of Energy Federalism, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Usage-Based Pricing, Zero-Rating, And The Future Of Broadband Innovation, Daniel A. Lyons Feb 2016

Usage-Based Pricing, Zero-Rating, And The Future Of Broadband Innovation, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Title Ii Reclassification Is Rate Regulation, Daniel A. Lyons Feb 2016

Title Ii Reclassification Is Rate Regulation, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Innovations In Mobile Broadband Pricing, Daniel Lyons Dec 2015

Innovations In Mobile Broadband Pricing, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

The FCC’s net neutrality rules sought to limit interference by broadband service providers in markets for Internet-based content and applications. But to do so, the Commission significantly reduced the amount of innovation possible in the broadband service market. Within limits, broadband providers may offer different plans that vary the quantity of service available to customers, as well as the quality of that service. But they generally cannot vary the service itself: with limited exceptions, broadband providers must offer customers access to all lawful Internet traffic, or none at all. 

This Article explores the way in which this all-or-nothing homogenization of the American broadband product differs from innovative experiments taking …


Regulating Interconnection (Lightly!), Daniel A. Lyons Oct 2015

Regulating Interconnection (Lightly!), Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Assessing The Right To Be Forgotten, Daniel Lyons Oct 2015

Assessing The Right To Be Forgotten, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

From its inception the Internet has been disrupting business models, as once-ubiquitous brands like Blockbuster, Borders, and Encyclopedia Britannica can attest. But as more of our activities move online, society is beginning to realize how it can disrupt individual lives as well. In 2013, the tech world watched in real time as an ill-advised tweet to 170 followers began trending worldwide and cost 30-year-old PR director Justine Sacco her job while she flew from London to Cape Town, oblivious to the firestorm she had ignited below. More recently, the hack of the adultery facilitating website Ashley Madison has revealed financial …


Amazon Didn’T Break Law By Banning Sales Of Google, Apple Streaming Players, Daniel Lyons Oct 2015

Amazon Didn’T Break Law By Banning Sales Of Google, Apple Streaming Players, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

The Titans of Silicon Valley have long battled for control of the television, that stubborn holdout in the living room that has long resisted being dragged into the Internet age.

This battle heated up last week when Amazon banned the sale of Apple TV or Google’s Chromecast units on its site. The announcement triggered a deluge of criticism, including calls by some to investigate whether the decision violates antitrust laws. But these calls are misguided.


Panelist, Recent Federal Law Changes And Their Impact On The States, Daniel Lyons Sep 2015

Panelist, Recent Federal Law Changes And Their Impact On The States, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Commenter, Implementing Real Regulatory Reform At The Fcc, Daniel Lyons Jul 2015

Commenter, Implementing Real Regulatory Reform At The Fcc, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Panelist, Our Changing Internet And Its Regulations, Daniel Lyons Jun 2015

Panelist, Our Changing Internet And Its Regulations, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Understand The Economics Of Cable Mergers, Daniel Lyons Jun 2015

Understand The Economics Of Cable Mergers, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result the second time. A scant three months after regulators torpedoed Time Warner Cable’s proposed merger with Comcast, the company found a new suitor, as part of a blockbuster three-company merger with rivals Charter and Bright House. But unlike its predecessor, this mega-merger among three of America’s six largest cable providers is likely to receive the government’s approval. The reasons why one proposed cable behemoth was bad, but another is good, is not obvious, and has little to do with the …


Net Neutrality, Daniel Lyons May 2015

Net Neutrality, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

Gave a lecture on net neutrality at the Roosevelt Institute.


Regulating Interconnection, Daniel Lyons May 2015

Regulating Interconnection, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Net Neutrality Explained: The Consequences Of The Fcc's Decision To Regulate Broadband Providers, Daniel Lyons Apr 2015

Net Neutrality Explained: The Consequences Of The Fcc's Decision To Regulate Broadband Providers, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.


Beyond Net Neutrality: International Examples Enabling Innovation And Consumer Choice In The Mobile Internet Ecosystem, Daniel Lyons Apr 2015

Beyond Net Neutrality: International Examples Enabling Innovation And Consumer Choice In The Mobile Internet Ecosystem, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

The FCC’s new Open Internet rules seek to limit interference by broadband service providers in markets for Internet-based content and applications. But to do so, the rules may significantly reduce the amount of innovation possible in the broadband service market. An aggressive interpretation of the rules suggests that broadband providers are generally required to offer customers access to all lawful Internet traffic, or none at all. This paper explores the way in which this all-or-nothing homogenization of the American broadband product differs from innovative non-net-neutral practices that are taking root in other countries, particularly in mobile markets. Around the world, …


What’S Next On The Road To Net Neutrality?, Daniel Lyons Feb 2015

What’S Next On The Road To Net Neutrality?, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

On February 26, the Federal Communications Commission will vote 3-2 to regulate broadband Internet providers as common carriers. The decision will be the culmination of nearly a decade of work by net neutrality activists seeking to subject Internet providers to rules written eighty years ago to tame the Bell telephone monopoly. It will also effectively thwart the proposed Thune-Upton bill in Congress that would accomplish net neutrality without radically altering the law governing cyberspace.

But these advocates would be well-advised to hold off celebrating. The FCC’s first attempt at net neutrality rules, in 2010, did not become effective until eleven …


Federalism And The Rise Of Renewable Energy: Preserving State And Local Voices In The Green Energy Revolution, Daniel Lyons Nov 2014

Federalism And The Rise Of Renewable Energy: Preserving State And Local Voices In The Green Energy Revolution, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

The rise of renewable energy has disrupted the traditional regulatory structure governing electricity. Unlike traditional fossil fuel power plants, wind and solar facilities are geographically constrained: they exist where the wind blows and the sun shines. Large-scale renewable energy is more likely to flow interstate, from resource-rich prairie and Southwestern states to energy-hungry population centers elsewhere. The difficulties of coordinating interstate electricity policies have led some to call for greater preemption of the states’ traditional duties as chief regulators of the electricity industry. But while preemption would eliminate some state-level roadblocks to interstate cooperation, it would sacrifice many of the …