Administrative Law Commons^™

Patent, Technology, And The Role Of University, Agus Sardjono

Indonesia Law Review

University has significant contribution to the development of nanotechnology. The role of university can be implemented through the TTLO, particularly in an effort to build a bridge for bottom-up nanotechnology for commercial purposes. There will be an increasingly significant link between the patent system and the university role in the development of nanotechnology.

Wireless Efficiency Versus Net Neutrality, Charles L. Jackson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

This Article first addresses congestion and congestion control in the Internet. It shows how congestion control has always depended upon altruistic behavior by end users. Equipment failures, malicious acts, or abandonment of altruistic behavior can lead to severe congestion within the Internet. Consumers benefit when network operators are able to control such congestion. One tool for controlling such congestion is giving higher priority to some applications, such as telephone calls, and …

Spectrum Miscreants, Vigilantes, And Kangaroo Courts: The Return Of The Wireless Wars, Christian Sandvig

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

It is axiomatic that government licensing is a foundational requirement for the use of the electromagnetic spectrum. Yet in some bands there is no licensing requirement, providing an empirical site that can be used to examine wireless coexistence without licenses. This Article draws on ethnographic work with wireless Internet Service Providers to report on the extralegal means that are used to share or allocate spectrum in these license exempt bands. Operators …

Resilience: Building Better Users And Fair Trade Practices In Information, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

In the discourse on communications and new media policy, the average consumer-the user-is frequently eliminated from the equation. This Article presents an argument rooted in developmental psychology theory regarding the ways that users interact with technology and the resulting implications for data privacy law. Arguing in favor of a user-centric construction of policy and law, the Author introduces the concept of resilience. The concept of resilience has long been discussed in …

The Internet Ecosystem: The Potential For Discrimination, Dick Grunwald

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

This Article explores how the emerging Internet architecture of "cloud computing," content distribution networks, private peering and data-center services can simultaneously foster a perception of "unfair" network access while at the same time enabling significant competition for services, content, and innovation. A key enabler of these changes is the emergence of technologies that lower the barrier for entry in developing and deploying new services. Another is the design of successful Internet …

Rough Consensus And Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles Into Internet Policy Debates, Christopher S. Yoo

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

Restraining Amazon.Com's Orwellian Potential: The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act As Consumer Rights Legislation, Alicia C. Sanders

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2009, Amazon.com decided to correct a potential copyright violation by deleting e-books by George Orwell and Ayn Rand from the Kindles of users who had already purchased the offending texts. Two of those users, Justin Gawronski and Antoine Bruguier, claimed that Amazon.com had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by accessing their Kindles without authorization. The plaintiffs also relied on other causes of action, including breach of contract and trespass to chattels. Although the dispute quickly settled, the Gawronski lawsuit remains a useful case study that shows why the CFAA is a useful protection for consumers. Recently, …

Access To Media All A-Twitter: Revisiting Gertz And The Access To Media Test In The Age Of Social Networking, Ann E. O'Connor

Federal Communications Law Journal

Plaintiffs' access to media has long been a factor in defamation cases, enabling courts to determine whether that plaintiff is a public figure who must meet the actual malice standard, or whether that plaintiff is a private figure worthy of greater protection from defamation. This component of the public-private distinction can no longer be applied with clear precision, given the advent of social networking and today's world of widespread media access. In light of the massive changes that have taken place in the media world, the access to media test must be revisited and appropriately retailored to avoid an inappropriate …

Supervising Managed Services, James B. Speta

Faculty Working Papers

Many Internet-access providers simultaneously offer Internet access and other services, such as traditional video channels, video on demand, voice calling, and other emerging services, through a single, converged platform. These other services—which can be called "managed services" because the carrier offers them only to its subscribers in a manner designed to ensure some quality of service—in many circumstances will compete with services that are offered by unaffiliated parties as applications or services on the Internet. This situation creates an important interaction effect between the domains of Internet access and managed services, an effect that has largely been missing from the …

Better Late Than Never: How The Online Advertising Industry’S Response To Proposed Privacy Legislation Eliminates The Need For Regulation, Catherine Schmierer

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Although Julie Matlin liked the shoes she saw on Zappos.com, she ultimately left the site without purchasing them. However, it was not the last time she would see that pair of shoes. For the next several days, the shoes followed Ms. Matlin to numerous other websites. “It was as if Zappos had unleashed a persistent salesmen who wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Understandably, Ms. Matlin found this “online stalking” disturbing, but she was more troubled when ads for her online dieting service started following her as well. She stated, “They are still following me around, and it makes me …

Human Rights -- Latin America, Indigenous Peoples -- Latin America, Neoliberalism -- Latin America, Ethnicity.Gov: Global Governance, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Prior Consultation In Social Minefields, César Rodríguez-Garavito

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article explores law's protagonism and effects in contemporary conflicts over development, natural resource extraction, and indigenous peoples' rights. It focuses on the sociolegal site where these conflicts have been most visible and acute: consultations with indigenous peoples prior to the undertaking of economic projects that affect them. I argue that legal disputes over prior consultation are part of a broader process of juridification of ethnic claims, which I call "ethnicity.gov." I examine the plurality of public and private regulations involved in this process and trace their affinity with the procedural logic of neoliberal global governance. I further argue that …

Disappearing Government Information And The Internet's Public Domain, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

This article surveys the types and amounts of information that have been removed from the Internet since September 11th. Information has been removed in the name of national security as well as for reasons of seeming political expediency. After discussing the bases of some of the rationales for removing the information, and the legal underpinnings of continued access, the article suggests several forms of advocacy that could be used to return the information to the public's domain.

Foreword: Rulemaking, Democracy, And Torrents Of E-Mail, Nina A. Mendelson

Articles

This Foreword is meant as an initial foray into the question of what agencies should do with mass public comments, particularly on broad questions of policy. Part I discusses the extent to which congressional control, presidential control, and agency procedures themselves can ensure that agency decisions are democratically responsive. In view of shortcomings in both congressional and presidential control, I underscore the need to focus closely on rulemaking procedures as a source of democratic responsiveness. The possibility that agencies may be systematically discounting certain public submissions raises difficulties, and I present some examples. Part II makes a preliminary case that …

Adverse Publicity By Administrative Agencies In The Internet Era, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Nearly forty years ago, Ernest Gellhorn documented the potentially devastating impact that can occur when federal agencies issue adverse publicity about private parties. Based on his article, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) recommended that courts, Congress, and agencies hold agencies to clear standards for issuing such publicity. In the decades since, some agencies have adopted standards, but most have not. And neither the courts nor Congress has intervened to impose standards. Today, agencies continue to use countless forms of publicity to pressure alleged regulatory violators and to amplify their overall enforcement powers — all without affording due …

The Challenge Of Developing Effective Public Policy On The Use Of Social Media By Youth, John Palfrey

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

Revisiting The Regulatory Status Of Broadband Internet Access: A Policy Framework For Net Neutrality And An Open Competitive Internet, Lee L. Selwyn, Helen E. Golding

Federal Communications Law Journal

A decade of broadband access deregulation has landed the FCC at a legal deadend. After the D.C. Circuit's Comcast decision, the FCC finds itself unable to enforce its "net neutrality" goals. To reassert its jurisdiction over "net neutrality," the FCC proposes to reclassify broadband Internet access as a Title II "telecommunications service" while continuing to forbear from most other facets of common carrier regulation. The FCC's current dilemma results from an unfortunate combination of unverified predictive judgments associating deregulation with investment; overly optimistic assessments of competition in the consumer broadband market; the abandonment of the "bright line" between transmission and …

Introduction To Essays On The Future Of Digital Communications, Ferando R. Laguarda

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: The Future of Digital Communications: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Challenge Of Increasing Civic Engagement In The Digital Age, Nicol Turner-Lee

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Future Of Digital Communications Research And Policy, Scott Wallsten

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Changing Patterns Of Internet Usage, Christopher S. Yoo

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Challenge Of Increasing Broadband Capacity, Dale N. Hatfield

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

Pacifica Reconsidered: Implications For The Current Controversy Over Broadcast Indecency, Angela J. Campbell

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC's finding in Fox TV Stations v. Federal Communications Commission that the broadcast of "fleeting expletives" violated a federal law prohibiting the broadcast of indecency, but remanded the case for consideration of the broadcast networks' claims that the FCC action violated the First Amendment. On remand, the Second Circuit found that the FCC's prohibition against "fleeting expletives" was unconstitutionally vague. It is widely expected that the Supreme Court will review this decision and that the networks will ask the Court to reconsider its 1978 decision in Pacifica Foundation v. Federal Communications Commission. This …

Technology Convergence And Federalism: Who Should Decide The Future Of Telecommunications Regulation?, Daniel A. Lyons

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article critically examines the division of regulatory jurisdiction over telecommunications issues between the federal government and the states. Currently, the line between federal and state jurisdiction varies depending on the service at issue. This compartmentalization might have made sense fifteen years ago, but the advent of technology convergence has largely rendered this model obsolete. Yesterday's telephone and cable companies now compete head-to-head to offer consumers the vaunted "triple play" of voice, video, and internet services. But these telecommunications companies are finding it increasingly difficult to fit new operations into arcane, rigid regulatory compartments. Moreover, services that consumers view as …

Disincentives To Data Breach: Problems With Notification And Future Legislative Possibilities, Ross Schulman

Legislation and Policy Brief

In the modern digitized and networked world, personal identifying information has quickly become a commodity that can be traded, sold, or given away like any other. The uses and potential abuses of personal identifying information, however, distinguish this commodity from any other. Personal identifying information can be copied infinitely, is often not protected nearly as well as physical commodities, and, most importantly, can have particular importance to the person identified by that information. The producer of a bushel of apples presumably cares very little about where his apples end up, as long as he is paid for them to begin …

Derailed By The D.C. Circuit: Getting Network Management Regulation Back On Track, Edward B. Mulligan V

Federal Communications Law Journal

As the Internet continues to play a more central role in the daily lives of Americans, concerns about how Internet service providers manage their networks have arisen. Responding to these concerns and recognizing the importance of maintaining the open and competitive nature of the Internet, the FCC has taken incremental steps to regulate network management practices. Perhaps the most significant of these steps was its August 2008 Memorandum Decision and Order in which the FCC condemned Comcast Corporation's network management practices as "discriminatory and arbitrary." In that Order, the FCC required that Comcast (1) adopt new practices that complied with …

Thwack!! Take That, User-Generated Content!: Marvel Enterprises V. Ncsoft, Carl Michael Szabo

Federal Communications Law Journal

Comic-book heroes show us how to be valiant, how to fight for those less fortunate, and, in some circumstances, how to combat those who break the law. Such is the situation in the case of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. v. NCSofl Corp., a battle between user-generated content and the copyright violations that resulted.

While the issue of copyright liability has been seen in hundreds of comments and notes from courts and attorneys alike, the issue of copyright liability on the internet remains an open question that if not addressed, could endanger the protection afforded to authors. Federal and state suits have …

The Sound Of Money: Securing Copyright, Royalties, And Creative "Progress" In The Digital Music Revolution, Armen Boyajian

Federal Communications Law Journal

Academics and popular critics alike want to distill, reform, or altogether destroy U.S. copyright law as we know it. Much of this stems from animosity toward the old-guard record industry's alleged practices of overcharging consumers, underpaying royalties to artists, and suing teenagers and grandmas. But what those calling for reform all seem to neglect is a tiny but inevitable fact: for the first time in history, composers and recording artists can keep their copyrights.

Tangible media sales are being replaced by P2P file sharing, retail downloads, and streaming Webcasts. Digital technologies and wireless networks have opened prime channels for music …

The Broadband Adoption Index: Improving Measurements And Comparisons Of Broadband Deployment And Adoption, T. Randolph Beard, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak, Michael Stern

Federal Communications Law Journal

Countries around the world are increasingly concerned as to whether the adoption of broadband technology by their respective citizens is sufficient to support economic growth and social development. Unfortunately, such concerns are often expressed in terms of where a country ranks among its peers by means of raw adoption numbers. Such raw data are often misleading and incomplete. In this Article, we propose a different and more policy-relevant approach to adoption measurement. We develop a value-based Broadband Adoption Index (BAI) that compares the actual value to society that results from the adoption of broadband technology to a target level of …

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 …

Future Imperfect: Googling For Principles In Online Behavioral Advertising, Brian Stallworth

Federal Communications Law Journal

In a remarkably short time, Google, Inc. has grown from two people working in a rented garage to a pervasive Internet force. Much of Google's unprecedented success stems from online advertising sales which employ behavioral advertising techniques-techniques that track consumer behavior--thereby increasing relevance and decreasing the cost of reaching a targeted audience. In the same span that saw Google's inception and explosive online dominance, the Federal Trade Commission has struggled to define not only the privacy issues involved in online behavioral advertising, but also the practice of behavioral advertising itself. Freed from the restraints of comprehensive federal laws and restrictive …