Communications Law Commons^™

Swallows, Sausages, And The 1996 Act, Daniel B. Phythyon

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Politics And Telecommunications, Larry Pressler

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Anticipating Regulation Of New Telecommunications Technologies: An Argument For The European Model, Jessica Finley

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper argues that the United States should look to the European Community in order to rework its telecommunications regulatory structure. More specifically, the United States should reconsider its current system of regulating various telecommunications sectors separately and follow the European Commission by developing a "single regulatory framework." By regulating the telecommunications transmission separately from telecommunications content, the United States can better anticipate emerging technologies rather than struggling to catch up with new technologies as they exceed the reach of the current regulatory framework. Part II will discuss the U.S. and European telecommunications regulatory frameworks. Part III will discuss the …

Why Have A Telecommunications Law? Anti-Discrimination Norms In Communications, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

This paper describes a vision of what telecommunications laws’ central goals should be in coming decades, and what kind of legal instruments will serve those goals. The telecommunications law, I suggest, has been preoccupied with three projects: allocating rights, managing discrimination, and achieving various social goals, like indecency regulation. This paper argues that in the future the main point of the telecommunications law should be as an anti-discrimination regime, and that the main challenge for regulators will be getting the anti-discrimination rules right.

The view advanced here, while much popularized over the last decade, has deeper roots reaching back to …

Securing The Freedom Of The Communications Revolution, Michael K. Powell

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Four More Years... Of The Status Quo? How Simple Principles Can Lead Us Out Of The Regulatory Wilderness, Adam Thierer

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Future: A Strategy For Creating Laws Not Constrained By Technological Obsolescence, Jay Campbell

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This note will examine the obsolescence of laws through the lens of recent cases relating to "wiretapping laws" and propose the creation of laws that protect certain rights independent of technology. Recently, a number of courts have held that laws created in the mid-1980's to protect communications do not apply to Internet-related communications, reasoning that the method of transmission falls outside the language of the statutes. As a result, e-mail and other forms of Internet-based communications are treated differently from older forms of communication such as telephone conversations. This note will propose a broad legislative solution with the aim of …

Copyright Law And Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Neda Ballard Panula

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Regulating Speech Across Borders: Technology Vs. Values, Matthew Fagin

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The disfavored status within international law of unilateral state-based regulations that target extraterritorial actors arises from the inherent challenges such actions represent to state sovereignty. In the context of the Internet, the complexity of choice-of-law analysis is heightened: regulations imposed by one state have the potential to effectively block communications to citizens of all states and undermine the conflicting regulatory aims of neighboring states. Early legal commentators built upon this cascading chilling effect of state-based regulation to proclaim both the futility and illegitimacy of state-based action in the online environment. Subsequent scholars have demonstrated the commensurability of state-based online regulation …

Beyond Napster, Beyond The United States: The Technological And International Legal Barriers To On-Line Copyright Enforcement, Jeffrey L. Dodes

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Designing Deliberative Democracy In Cyberspace: The Role Of The Cyber-Lawyer, Beth Simone Noveck

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Technology Law, J. Douglas Cuthbertson, Glen L. Gross

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legacy Of Lost Opportunity: Designated Entities And The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Pcs Spectrum Auction, A, Mark W. Munson

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") designated entity policy has challenged the efficiency of the use of auctions to allocate spectrum licenses. As an alternative to comparative hearings and lotteries, auctions provide an effective solution to the costs, administrative burdens, and delays associated with apportioning spectrum. Congress required the FCC to allow firms to participate in the auctions even if they had difficulty in obtaining financing. The FCC gave these firms, known as "designated entities," set-asides and other preferences to assist them in the competitive bidding process. In the broadband Personal Communications Services ("PCS") auctions, however, designated entities frequently were unable …

What The Future Holds: Policy Choices In A Global Marketplace, Maureen A. O'Rourke

Faculty Scholarship

This essay's title is a misnomer. No one knows "What the Future Holds" in the global marketplace. We can, however, make some educated guesses about the issues that will assume particular importance in the next year or so. Thus, the essay might be more accurately titled, "What May or May Not Be the Important Issues in Internet Commerce in the Next Year or So'"-less catchy, admittedly, but closer to the truth.

Telemedicine: Rx For The Future Of Health Care, Susan E. Volkert

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Quite simply, telemedicine symbolizes and catalyzes the clash between the reality of our legal and political approach to health care and the American dream of bringing health care to all patients. Telemedicine, like our health care delivery systems, is regulated by many layers of government. Unlike other issues, telemedicine cuts through and challenges the traditional controls of access and cost. As such, telemedicine is a microcosm of our health care delivery system and a lens through which one may analyze the obstacles to access in the current system. This article examines these issues, proposes that telemedicine's goal should be to …

Equality In The Information Age, William E. Kennard

Federal Communications Law Journal

Forum: New Approaches to Minority Media Ownership, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University.

To Net Or Not To Net: Singapore’S Regulation Of The Internet, Sarah B. Hogan

Federal Communications Law Journal

Internet access has become almost commonplace, as has the unfettered exchange of ideas through cyberspace. Several nations, Singapore among them, have attempted to control their citizens’ Internet access in order to preserve and protect a desired national culture. A brief overview of the technological means of Internet censorship reveals a hidden truth: If Singapore truly wishes to become the technological giant of the East, the government will have to sacrifice its desire to control Internet content.

Electronic Communications And The Law: Help Or Hindrance To Telecommuting?, Jennifer C. Dombrow

Federal Communications Law Journal

During 1997, an estimated 11.1 million workers preformed some portion of their work by telecommuting. This number is expected to grow as employers continue to discover the benefits that can result from instituting a telecommuting policy. This growth may be hindered, however, by controversy concerning employee privacy rights. Although the use of electronic communications in the workplace is common, the laws addressing employee privacy rights and employer monitoring rights concerning these communications are ambiguous. New legislation is necessary to specifically define the respective rights of employers and employees. Without this new legislation, the benefits of electronic communications in the workplace, …

The Telecommunications Act Of 1996: Codifying The Digital Divide, Allen S. Hammond Iv

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 purports to ensure every American eventual access to advanced telecommunications networks and services, and more immediate access to basic telephone networks and services. This access is essential because it determines the ease with which Americans can acquire an education, obtain employment, control financial affairs, access emergency assistance, and participate in the political process. The interpretation and implementation of the 1996 Act is critical because there is an imminent danger that a large portion of society— in inner cities, near suburbs, and small towns— not be connected to the "national electronic nervous system." To ensure that …

Pornography Drives Technology: Why Not To Censor The Internet, Peter Johnson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Historically, the development of new media has been advanced by the creators of pornography. This was evident as communications media evolved from vernacular speech to movable type, to photography, to paperback books, to videotape, to cable and pay-TV, to 900 phone lines, to the French Minitel, and to the Internet. In short, pornography, far from being an evil that the First Amendment must endure, is a positive good that encourages experimentation with new technology. Accordingly, society should not view cyberpornographers as pariahs, rather they should be viewed as explorers who pave the roads for civilization to follow.

Digital Demons And Lost Lawyers: A Review Of Law In A Digital World By M. Ethan Katsh, Bruce A. Markell

Federal Communications Law Journal

The increase in technology gives rise to an interesting discussion on whether the way lawyers approach the law will change. This question is analyzed with Professor Katsh's premise that the increase in the use of computers and networks will ultimately change the manner in which lawyers accumulate and use information. The Reviewer defends the role of lawyers as being more than just "information providers;" lawyers are guardians of a distinguished service as well. The Reviewer declares that what lawyers do cannot be oversimplified by computers and networks. Nevertheless, the Reviewer emphasizes that Law in a Digital World does provide insight …

A Double-Barrelled Assault: How Technology And Judicial Interpretations Threaten Public Access To Law Enforcement Records, Jamison S. Prime

Federal Communications Law Journal

Recently, an explosion of media coverage has revealed gross misconduct on the part of many police officers in the United States. From Rodney King to Mark Furman, the events have raised grave questions about whether existing checks against police misconduct are effective. Yet, at this crucial period, technological advances and judicial interpretations undermine the ability of the public to access police records. The Author argues that most Freedom of Information (FOI) statutes provide inadequate access to police records in light of technological advances and narrow judicial interpretations of FOI statutes.

Your Life As An Open Book: Has Technology Rendered Personal Privacy Virtually Obsolete?, Sandra Byrd Peterson

Federal Communications Law Journal

As society becomes increasingly automated, the ability of individuals to protect their "information privacy" is practically nonexistent. Information that was once kept on paper in filing cabinets is now on-line in computer databases. At the touch of a computer key, a complete stranger can conveniently access and compile from a variety of different sources a dossier of intimate, personal information about people without their knowledge. Perhaps more shocking is the current lack of legal recourse available to contest the nonconsensual use of personal data.

In this Note, the Author examines the currently loose constitutional and common-law protections and suggests strategies …

Computer Bulletin Board Operator Liability For Users' Infringing Acts, M. David Dobbins

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that a computer bulletin board operator's liability for copyright infringement by users of the bulletin board should be analyzed under the theory of contributory copyright infringement. This Note calls for a standard of liability under contributory copyright infringement that accommodates the competing interests at stake in the resolution of this issue. Part I provides an overview of copyright infringement law and argues that in most situations the operator's actions, viewed independently, do not constitute copyright infringement. Part II explores theories of third-party liability. This Part rejects the doctrine of vicarious liability as an effective means for establishing …

Telecommunications In Transition: Unbundling, Reintegration, And Competition, David J. Teece

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The world economy is experiencing a technological revolution, fueled by rapid advances in microelectronics, optics, and computer science, that in the 1990s and beyond will dramatically change the way people everywhere communicate, learn, and access information and entertainment. This technological revolution has been underway for about a decade. The emergence of a fully-interactive communications network, sometimes referred to as the "Information Superhighway," is now upon us. This highway, made possible by fiber optics and the convergence of several different technologies, is capable of delivering a plethora of new interactive entertainment, informational, and instructional services that are powerful and user-friendly. The …

A Puzzle Even The Codebreakers Have Trouble Solving: A Clash Of Interests Over The Electronic Encryption Standard, Sean Flynn

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Sixtieth Anniversary Of The Communications Act, Ed Turner

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Microsoft: A Case Study In International Competitiveness, High Technology, And The Future Of Antitrust Law, Amy C. Page

Federal Communications Law Journal

By traditional business standards, Microsoft looked like an ideal target for investigation by the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division: As competitors lined up to allege unfair business practices against Microsoft, about 80 percent of the personal computers in the world used the company's operating system. The Justice Department and Microsoft settled during the summer of 1994, before the case went to trial. This Note argues that by settling, the government acknowledges that traditional antitrust definitions may be counterproductive against companies that are playing the key roles in building the information superhighway. In the high technology industries, where small, innovative companies …

Legal Responses To Commercial Transactions Employing Novel Communications Media, John Robinson Thomas

Michigan Law Review

This Note analyzes contemporary business practices and specific characteristics of the new media, and suggests a judicial response consonant with courts' approaches to the earlier technologies of telegraphy and teletype. Part I examines the effect of the Statute of Frauds and rules of authentication upon contracts formed using these media. It concludes that documents produced by telefacsimile and electronic mail systems should be considered ordinary writings. Part II considers the Best Evidence Rule and argues that telefacsimiles and electronic mail transmissions should be considered the best evidence of the contract they memorialize. Part III evaluates doctrines of liability allocation in …

The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact Of New Media Technologies On Democratic Politics, Gregory T. Everts

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics by Jeffrey B. Abramson, F. Christopher Arterton, and Gary R. Orren