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Full-Text Articles in Communications Law
The Promise Of Internet Intermediary Liability, Ronald J. Mann, Seth R. Belzley
The Promise Of Internet Intermediary Liability, Ronald J. Mann, Seth R. Belzley
Faculty Scholarship
The Internet has transformed the economics of communication, creating a spirited debate about the proper role of federal, state, and international governments in regulating conduct related to the Internet. Many argue that Internet communications should be entirely self-regulated because such communications cannot or should not be the subject of government regulation. The advocates of that approach would prefer a no-regulation zone around Internet communications, based largely on the unexamined view that Internet activity is fundamentally different in a way that justifies broad regulatory exemption. At the same time, some kinds of activity that the Internet facilitates undisputedly violate widely shared …
The Une Anticommons: Why The 1996 Telecom Reforms Blocked Innovation And Investment, Michael A. Heller
The Une Anticommons: Why The 1996 Telecom Reforms Blocked Innovation And Investment, Michael A. Heller
Faculty Scholarship
The United States is losing its competitive edge in telecommunications partly because of FCC mistakes in fragmenting property rights in, and in the regulatory oversight of local telephone facilities and services. As with postsocialist transition, reformers created a "tragedy of the anticommons" in which too many owners and regulators each can block the others' investments and all players forego innovation. By forcing existing companies to unbundle network elements (UNEs) and sell them too cheaply, the FCC has created an industry where the players cannibalize the legacy network, divert resources to regulatory arbitrage, and have little incentive for bold new investments.