Law Commons^™

Thailand And Its Shortcut Towards General Competition In Telecommunications Industry, Piyabutr Bunaramrueang

piyabutr bunaramrueang

It is commonly known that telecommunications industry requires a specific set of regulations in dealing with its own critical issues, particularly of asymmetric regulation in its context of natural monopoly. Today in the digital age, telecommunications industry is transitioning towards general competition meaning that the specific conditions are fading out; specific rules are becoming unnecessary. The United States and the European Union have provided the most advanced examples in this area which have being developed for more than a century. Nonetheless, each country has its own conditions and specific requirements. For examples, the United States possesses very strong systems interplaying …

Space, The Final Frontier-Expanding Fcc Regulation Of Indecent Content Onto Direct Broadcast Satellite, John C. Quale, Malcolm J. Tuesley

Federal Communications Law Journal

The vast majority of viewers today receive video programming from multichannel video programming providers-mostly cable television or direct broadcast satellite ("DBS")-rather than directly over-the-air from broadcast stations. While the FCC has not hesitated to sanction broadcasters for what it deems to be indecent content, it consistently has found that it lacks the authority to regulate indecency on subscription services like cable television. Citizens groups and some in Congress now seek to extend indecency restrictions to DBS services under existing law or through the enactment of new legislation. It is true that DBS, because of its use of radio spectrum to …

Technological Convergence And Competition On The Edge - „Emerging Markets“ And Their Regulation, Andrea Stazi

Andrea Stazi

Technological convergence, on the one hand, tends to point out new roles - and sometimes also markets - for the players in the communications industry, producing the segmentation of different functions and phases in the value chain. On the other hand, technological convergence could bring forth numerous specific antitrust issues, such as an increase in the market power of the suppliers of more appealing services or contents, or a premature foreclosure of the new market due to leveraging of the power maintained by a company in another market. A topic of particular interest, till now quite neglected by legal doctrine, …

Sometime Less Is More: Utility, Preemption, And Hermeneutical Criticisms Of Proposed Federal Regulation Of Mortgage Brokers, Lloyd Thomas Wilson Jr.

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Accord Acts Twenty Years Later, Shawn Denstedt, R J. Thrasher

Dalhousie Law Journal

The authors examine key provisions of the Accord Acts and the experience with them to date, and make comparisons with other jurisdictions. They address regulatory issues, such as the resource conservation powers of the Boards, the relationship between the Boards and other agencies, and the relative success of regulation streamlining efforts. Finally,they consider exploration and development matters and commercial issues such as flow-testing of exploration wells, benefits, royalty agreements, Board guidelines, disclosure of information, and conditions or requirements attached by the Boards to authorizations.

Regulatory Preemption: Are Federal Agencies Usurping Congressional And State Authority?: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary,, 110th Cong., Sept. 12, 2007 (Statement Of Viet D. Dinh, Geo. U. L. Center), Viet D. Dinh

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Regulatory Preemption: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary, 110th Cong., Sept. 12, 2007 (Statement Of David C. Vladeck, Geo. U. L. Center), David C. Vladeck

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Telecommunications In Transitioning Towards General Competition: A Comparative Study On Interconnection In The U.S., The Eu And Thailand, Piyabutr Bunaramrueang

piyabutr bunaramrueang

Telecommunications industry is generally known for its specific set of regulations in dealing with its own critical issues, particularly of competition in the context of natural monopoly and asymmetric regulation. Interconnection is the major condition which is intensely regulated. Nonetheless, telecommunications regulations are transitioning towards general competition meaning that the specific conditions are fading out; specific rules are becoming unnecessary. The regulation of interconnection is now in question. The United States and the European Union have provided the most advanced examples which have been developing for more than a century. However, each country has its own conditions and specific requirements. …

Presidents And Process: A Comparison Of The Regulatory Process Under The Clinton And Bush (43) Administrations, Stuart Shapiro

Stuart Shapiro

Do procedural controls placed on the regulatory process allow politicians to control bureaucratic decisionmaking? I use data on the regulatory process under the Clinton and Bush Administrations to assess the differences between these presidents with distinct ideological regulatory agendas. I find that the number of comments received, the changes made between proposal and finalization of rules, the frequency with which agencies bypass notice and comment, the frequency of use of different regulatory analyses, and the time to complete a rulemaking did not vary substantially between the two presidencies. This raises questions about the role of procedural controls on agency decisionmaking.

Forensic Dna Phenotyping: Regulatory Issues, Bert-Jaap Koops, Maurice Schellekens

Bert-Jaap Koops

Forensic DNA phenotyping is an interesting new investigation method: crime-scene DNA is analyzed to compose a description of the unknown suspect, including external and behavioral features, geographic origin and perhaps surname. This method is allowed in some countries but prohibited in a few others. Most countries have not yet taken a stance on this. This article addresses the question to what extent this investigation method should be allowed. The relevant regulatory issues are analyzed: the right of people not to know what their DNA tells about propensities for diseases or other propensities, data protection and privacy, stigmatization and discrimination, and …

Federal Search Commission? Access, Fairness, And Accountability In The Law Of Search, Oren Bracha, Frank Pasquale

Oren Bracha

Should search engines be subject to the types of regulation now applied to personal data collectors, cable networks, or phone books? In this article, we make the case for some regulation of the ability of search engines to manipulate and structure their results. We demonstrate that the First Amendment, properly understood, does not prohibit such regulation. Nor will such interventions inevitably lead to the disclosure of important trade secrets. After setting forth normative foundations for evaluating search engine manipulation, we explain how neither market discipline nor technological advance is likely to stop it. Though savvy users and personalized search may …

From "Navigable Waters" To "Constitutional Waters": The Future Of Federal Wetlands Regulation, Mark Squillace

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Wetlands regulation in the United States has a tumultuous history. The early European settlers viewed wetlands as obstacles to development, and they drained and filled wetlands and swamps at an astounding rate, often with government support, straight through the middle of the twentieth century. As evidence of the ecological significance of wetlands emerged over the last several decades, programs to protect and restore wetlands became prominent. Most notable among these is the permitting program under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. That provision prohibits dredging or filling of "navigable waters, " defined by law to mean "waters of the …

Slides: The Roadless Rules And The Roles Of States And Communities, Sharon Friedman

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Sharon Friedman, Director of Planning, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region

13 slides

Federalism And Accountability: State Attorneys General, Regulatory Litigation, And The New Federalism, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

This Comment will examine how one particular state institution, state attorneys general (SAGs), has operated within a unique set of institutional and political constraints to create state-based regulation with nationwide impact in policy areas including consumer protection, antitrust, environmental regulation, and securities regulation. This state-based regulation casts doubt on one of the principle rationales advanced in the Supreme Court's anticommandeering line of cases for limiting federal power; namely, that such a move enhances electoral accountability, a concept central to our democracy. If in the absence of federal regulation a series of narrowly accountable state-based actors can create nationwide regulation in …

Agenda: The Future Of Federal Wetlands Regulation After Rapanos, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

The Future of Federal Wetlands Regulation After Rapanos (May 10)

Hot-Topic Discussion held at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver, Colorado on May 10, 2007 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Speaker: Mark Squillace, Director of the Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law.

Commentators: Wayne Forman and Michelle Kales, attorneys, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

"Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006), was a United States Supreme Court case challenging federal jurisdiction to regulate isolated wetlands under the Clean Water Act. It was the first major environmental case heard by the newly appointed Chief Justice, John Roberts and Associate Justice, Samuel Alito. The Supreme Court …

Slides: The Future Of Federal Wetlands Regulation, Mark Squillace

The Future of Federal Wetlands Regulation After Rapanos (May 10)

Presenter: Professor Mark Squillace, Director, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law

35 slides

Pay Now, Execute Later: Why Counties Should Be Required To Post A Bond To Seek The Death Penalty, Adam M. Gershowitz

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statement On Prediction Markets, Vernon L. Smith, Kenneth J. Arrow, Shyam Sunder, Robert Forsythe, Robert E. Litan, Eric Zitzewitz, Michael Gorham, Robert W. Hahn, Robin Hanson, Daniel Kahneman, John O. Ledyard, Saul Levmore, Paul R. Milgrom, Forrest D. Nelson, George R. Neumann, Marco Ottaviani, Charles R. Plott, Thomas C. Schelling, Robert J. Shiller, Erik C. Snowberg, Cass R. Sunstein, Paul C. Tetlock, Philip E. Tetlock, Hal R. Varian, Justin Wolfers

Vernon L. Smith

Prediction markets are markets for contracts that yield payments based on the outcome of an uncertain future event, such as a presidential election. Using these markets as forecasting tools could substantially improve decision making in the private and public sectors.

We argue that U.S. regulators should lower barriers to the creation and design of prediction markets by creating a safe harbor for certain types of small stakes markets. We believe our proposed change has the potential to stimulate innovation in the design and use of prediction markets throughout the economy, and in the process to provide information that will benefit …

Utility And Rights In Common Law Reasoning: Rebalancing Private Law Through Constitutionalization, Hugh Collins

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the evolution of private law, legal reasoning has always confronted the fundamental problem of reconciling private interests with collective goods. Philosophers analyse this problem ofjustice in terms ofprotecting individual rights whilst at the same time maximizing utility or general welfare. The private law of tort, contract, and property rights that emerged in the nineteenth century provided a fortress of protections for individual rights, but the consequences for collective welfare were quickly found wanting. These consequences were addressed by the welfare state, regulation, and the separation of new spheres ofprivate law such as consumer law and labour lawfrom mainstream doctrine, …

Planners Gone Wild: The Overregulation Of Parking, Michael E Lewyn, Shane Cralle

Michael E Lewyn

A review of Donald Shoup's book, The High Cost of Free Parking (to be published in William Mitchell Law Review).

Just Until Payday, Ronald Mann, James Hawkins

Ronald Mann

Abstract The growth of payday lending markets during the last 15 years has been the focus of substantial regulatory attention both here and abroad, producing a dizzying array of initiatives by federal and state policymakers. Those initiatives have conflicting purposes – some seek to remove barriers to entry and others seek to impose limits on the business. As is often the case in banking markets, the resulting patchwork of federal and state laws poses a problem when one state is able to dictate the practices of a national industry. For most of this industry’s life, just that has happened – …

Credit Derivatives: Industry Initiative Supplants Need For Direct Regulatory Intervention. A Model For The Future Of U.S. Regulation?, John T. Lynch

John T Lynch

A brief introduction to credit derivatives and the current state of the market is given as a means of orienting the reader to the complexity and evolving importance of these financial instruments. This comment then offers a detailed survey of the recent developments in the credit derivatives market from 2005-2006, focusing on the initiative by the market participants that were called to action by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This model of shifting market control to the private sector is then explored as a central tenet of a revised U.S. financial regulatory structure, proposed in this comment as …

New Governance, Compliance, And Principles-Based Securities Regulation, Cristie L. Ford

Cristie L. Ford

The UK securities regulator, the Financial Services Authority, claims that its "principles-based" approach to securities regulation is simply "better" than what it characterizes as the prescriptive, rules-based American approach. The striking shift in financial sector business from New York to London over the last two years has brought the question of the wisdom of principles-based regulation into sharp relief. In fact, an FSA-style regulatory approach may also be taking hold in Canada, through the agency of the province of British Columbia. This paper examines BC's innovative proposals for a principles-based securities regime through the lens of New Governance theory. I …

Does Video Delivered Over A Telephone Network Require A Cable Franchise?, Robert W. Crandall, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article examines whether, on legal or policy grounds, video services provided over a telephone network should be regulated as a traditional cable service or whether a different approach is warranted. The Authors find that municipal franchise requirements for video services provided over telephone networks would reduce consumer welfare. The Authors estimate that, even without considering any welfare gains owing to higher quality, the consumer welfare gains from entry exceed the potential loss in franchise fee revenue to municipalities by a factor of nearly three to one.

Weak Democracy, Strong Information: The Role Of Information Technology In The Rulemaking Process, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Techno-optimists advocate the application of information technology to the rulemaking process as a means of advancing strong democracy -- that is, direct, broad-based citizen involvement in regulatory policy making. In this paper, I show that such optimism is unfounded given the obstacles to meaningful citizen deliberation posed by the impenetrability of current e-rulemaking developments, the prevailing level of citizen disengagement from politics and policy making more generally, and most citizens’ lack of the requisite technical information about and understanding of the issues at stake in regulatory decision making. As such, a more realistic goal for the application of new technology …

The Sec Regulation Of Takeovers: Some Doubts From A Game Theory Perspective And A Proposal For Reform, Sharon Hannes, Omri Yadlin

Sharon Hannes

In theory, a hostile tender offer poses a threat to the target shareholders who, for strategic reasons, may tender their shares in response to an inferior bid. It has therefore been suggested that the decision to tender be made separately from the shareholder vote on the actual merits of the bid. While the regulator has never adopted this proposal, market forces in the poison pill era did generate a mechanism with a similar effect. To overcome a poison pill (a mechanism implemented by managers to thwart bids), the bidder must win the shareholders’ vote in a proxy contest that is …

Protecting The New Face Of Entrepreneurship: Online Appropriate Dispute Resolution And International Consumer-To-Consumer Online Transactions, Ivonnely Colón-Fung

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Seventh Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law: The U.K Fsa: Nobody Does It Better?, William Michael Treanor, Ben A. Indek, Jill E. Fisch

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Still "Ain't No Glory In Pain": How The Telecommunications Act Of 1996 And Other 1990s Deregulation Facilitated The Market Crash Of 2002, André Douglas Pond Cummings

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Pharmaceutical Lemons: Innovation And Regulation In The Drug Industry, Ariel Katz

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Before a new drug can be marketed, the Food and Drug Administration must be satisfied that it is safe and effective. According to conventional wisdom, the cost and delay involved in this process diminish the incentives to invest in the development of new drugs. Accordingly, several reforms aimed at restoring such incentives have been implemented or advocated. This Article challenges the central argument that drug regulation and drug innovation are necessarily at odds with one another. Although intuitively appealing, the argument that drug regulation negatively affects the incentives to innovate does not fully capture the role that regulation plays in …