Communications Law Commons^™

Bring It On: The High-Stakes Battle Over Whether The Courts, Congress Or The Fec Should Muzzle Independent "527" Television Advertising, Christopher G. Johnson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note analyzes possible FEC actions, pending court decisions, and proposed legislation that could once again dramatically change the landscape of political advertising. Section I of this Note examines the BCRA and the Supreme Court's subsequent ruling in McConnell v. FEC that created the environment that caused 527's to flourish. Section II focuses on FEC enforcement of campaign finance laws and examines a pending court case considering whether the FEC acted arbitrarily by failing to require all 527's to register as political committees. Section III considers whether courts or law-makers should require 527's to register as political committees in light …

Exploring Iraq War News Coverage And A New Form Of Censorship In Violation Of The Quickly Evaporating Public Interest Requirement And Public Right To Receive Information, Robin A. Arzon

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

The Fcc’S New Indecency Enforcement Policy And Its European Counterparts: A Cautionary Tale, Michael Botein, Dariusz Adamski

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Military Spying In The United States: When It Is Not Your Neighbor Knocking At Your Door, Where Do You Turn?, Miriam Schneider

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will describe the role of the military in the United States and its relationship to privacy rights. Part I of this Note will describe the historical underpinnings that led to a limited role for the military within the United States territory, beyond defending against attack. Part II will describe the expectations by the courts and legislature for the military. In addition, it will illustrate instances where the military, along with numerous federal agencies, overstepped its traditional, constitutional and legal bounds. Part III will offer the legislature's response to, and its subsequent regulation of, the military and other federal …

Reparations Talk In College, Alfred L. Brophy

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Review of Uncivil Wars: The Controversy Over Reparations for Slavery by David Horowitz

Communication Breakdown?: The Future Of Global Connectivity After The Privatization Of Intelsat, Kenneth Katkin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1971, eighty-five nations (including the United States) formed the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), a public intergovernmental treaty organization. INTELSAT was charged with operating the world's first global telecommunications satellite system, to guarantee the interconnectedness of the world's communications systems and the availability of international telecommunications service to every nation on earth. By the late 1980s, however, INTELSAT's operations began to experience substantial competition from the private sector. In 2000, the proliferation of privately-owned telecommunications satellites and transoceanic fiber-optic cables led the U.S. Congress to mandate the privatization of INTELSAT. That privatization process began in 2001, and was substantially …

Whose Idea Is It Anyway? Protecting Idea Purveyors And Media Producers After Grosso V. Miramax, Aileen Brophy

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Permissive Pornography: The Selective Censorship Of The Internet Under Cipa, Heidi Wachs

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note critiques the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and its implementation, arguing that while its intent to protect children from online pornography is laudable, the mandated use of Internet filters is flawed. The study demonstrates that current filtering technology often overblocks access to critical nonpornographic health information, particularly affecting vulnerable populations like teenagers seeking sexual health resources. The Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. American Library Association upheld CIPA, dismissing less restrictive alternatives, but the article contends that this approach may harm patrons by restricting access to essential information.

A "Quizzical" Look Into The Need For Reality Television Show Regulation, Tara Brenner

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Law, Geography And Cyberspace: The Case Of On-Line Territorial Privacy, Daniel Benoliel

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Territorial privacy, one of the central categories of privacy protection, involves setting limit boundaries on intrusion into an explicit space or locale. Initially, the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which defined the privacy tort of intrusion as applied by courts, most notably designated two classes of excluded areas: "private" places in which the individual can expect to be free from intrusion, and "non-private" places, in which the individual does not have a recognized expectation of privacy. In the physical world, courts ultimately held, almost uniformly, that the tort of intrusion could not occur in a public place or in a place …

A Comment: Riaa V. Verizon And How The Dmca Subpoena Power Became Powerless, Katherine Raynolds

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Broadcast Litigiousness: Syndi-Court's Construction Of Legal Consciousness, Kimberlianne Podlas

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment 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 …

Fcc’S Crackdown On Broadcast Indecency, Michael Botein

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Prometheus Radio Project V. Fcc: The Persistence Of Scarcity, Aaron Perzanowski

Articles

Part I traces the history of broadcast regulation, emphasizing the development of the scarcity doctrine and the subsequent deregulatory trend. Part II examines the FCC's 2003 rule changes and the Third Circuit's analysis of those modifications in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. Part III analyzes the assumptions underlying the FCC's proffered explanation for its rule changes, ultimately concluding that they lack justification, and offers suggestions for responsible ownership deregulation. Part IV calls on Congress to reassert itself as the final arbiter of media policy.

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 …

Voice Over Internet Protocol And The Wiretap Act: Is Your Conversation Protected?, Daniel B. Garrie, Matthew J. Armstrong, Donald P. Harris

Seattle University Law Review

10101101: Is this sequence of digits voice or data? To a computer, voice is a sequence of digits and data is a sequence of digits. The law has defined 10101101 to be data, and 10101001 to be voice communications. Courts have constructed a distinction between data, 10101101, and voice, 10101001. However, that distinction is blurred when voice and data are simultaneously transmitted through the same medium. The courts forbid third parties to tap or monitor voice communications, yet permit data packets to be tracked, stored, and sold by third parties with the implied consent of either party engaged in the …

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.

Copyright Law And Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Neda Ballard Panula

Honors Capstones

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

The System Of Syllogism, Richard Dien Winfield

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

The Types Of Universals And The Forms Of Judgment, Richard Dien Winfield

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article argues that the forms of judgment are central to objective thought and knowledge, critiquing Kant for failing to account for their diversity and proposing a systematic approach to understanding judgment starting from the concept itself. It explores Hegel's differentiation of judgment forms through self-development, emphasizing the necessity of understanding universals and their interrelations.

Editor's Note, Jennifer J. Monberg

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Uberregulation Without Economics: The World Trade Organization's Decision In The U.S.-Mexico Arbitration On Telecommunications Services, General Agreement On Trade In Services, Gats, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

In April 2004, a World Trade Organization ("WTO") arbitration panel found that Mexico had violated its commitments under the Annex on Telecommunications to the General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS") by failing to ensure that Telmex, Mexico's largest supplier of basic telecommunications services, provide interconnection to U.S. telecommunications carriers at international settlement rates that were costoriented. The WTO panel deemed long run average incremental cost ("LRAIC") to be the appropriate cost standard for setting settlement rates. Mexico thus became obliged to change its domestic telecommunications regulations or face trade sanctions. The decision is the first WTO arbitration to deal …

The Road Not Yet Traveled: Why The Fcc Should Issue Digital Must-Carry Rules For Public Television "First", Andrew D. Cotlar

Federal Communications Law Journal

After having recently adopted a variety of complex decisions concerning the digital television transition, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") may be poised in the next year to address the issue of mandatory cable carriage of digital broadcast television signals. In this regard, it may reasonably consider the possibility of crafting digital carriage rules for public television stations first without ruling positively or negatively on carriage of commercial stations. This action may legitimately be based on the unique legislative and factual differences between the noncommercial and commercial service and would be constitutionally permissible. This Article sets forth the legal basis for …

Nonprofit Solicitation Under The Telemarketing Sales Rule, Rita Marie Cain

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") revised its Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR") to establish a national Do-Not-Call Registry for commercial telemarketing. Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to coordinate its telemarketing regulations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") of 1991 to achieve maximum consistency between the two agencies' telemarketing restrictions. Nonprofit solicitation is exempt from the national Do-Not-Call Registry, but is covered by other provisions of the FTC rule. The TSR created a new in-house no-call list requirement and imposed additional restrictions not previously known for nonprofit solicitors. The separate nonprofit provisions of the TSR raise unique …

Competition Versus Regulation: "Mediating Between Right And Right'* In The Wireless And Wireline Telephone Industries, Benjamin Douglas Arden

Federal Communications Law Journal

The wireline telephone industry in the United States is the most complete and sophisticated system in the world, built under 100 years of strict government regulation. While the wireline telephone industry was built under a scheme emphasizing regulatory control, the infancy of the wireless telephone industry has been subject to increasing deregulation and reliance on free market forces to guide the industry's development. It has been suggested that this shift in policy reflects the acknowledged failure of strict government regulation. This Note argues that the shift in regulatory policy reflects a difference in circumstances between the development of the wireless …

An Introduction To Lessigian Thought, Russ Taylor

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, Lawrence Lessig, New York: Penguin Press, 2004, 306 pages.

A review of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity by Lawrence Lessig. Lawrence Lessig is a frequent commentator and prolific writer on media and communications topics. His body of work touches copyright issues, radio spectrum policy, media ownership issues, and legal ownership and control of the physical platforms that deliver broadband content. In this 2004 publication, he focuses on copyright policy. …

Masthead Vol.57 No.1 (2004)

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

An Architecture For Spam Regulation, David Dickinson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Junk email, commonly referred to as "spam," is the current scourge of the Internet. In late 2004, unwanted email messages were being delivered at a rate of 12.4 billion per day. The variety of tools used to combat spam have failed to make a significant impact. Legislative efforts, such as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, met with substantial enforcement complications. The communications industry responded with a variety of technical advances, such as filters and blacklists, but those innovations are still unable to reliably distinguish between wanted and unwanted messages. Real coordination between legislative and technical spam control tactics has yet …

Case Note. Nemitz V. United States, A Case Of First Impression: Appropriation, Private Property Rights And Space Law Before The Federal Courts Of The United States, Robert Kelly

Journal of Space Law

No abstract provided.