Science and Technology Policy Commons^™

Regulating New Tech: Problems, Pathways, And People, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

New technologies bring with them many promises, but also a series of new problems. Even though these problems are new, they are not unlike the types of problems that regulators have long addressed in other contexts. The lessons from regulation in the past can thus guide regulatory efforts today. Regulators must focus on understanding the problems they seek to address and the causal pathways that lead to these problems. Then they must undertake efforts to shape the behavior of those in industry so that private sector managers focus on their technologies’ problems and take actions to interrupt the causal pathways. …

Transparency And Algorithmic Governance, Cary Coglianese, David Lehr

All Faculty Scholarship

Machine-learning algorithms are improving and automating important functions in medicine, transportation, and business. Government officials have also started to take notice of the accuracy and speed that such algorithms provide, increasingly relying on them to aid with consequential public-sector functions, including tax administration, regulatory oversight, and benefits administration. Despite machine-learning algorithms’ superior predictive power over conventional analytic tools, algorithmic forecasts are difficult to understand and explain. Machine learning’s “black-box” nature has thus raised concern: Can algorithmic governance be squared with legal principles of governmental transparency? We analyze this question and conclude that machine-learning algorithms’ relative inscrutability does not pose a …

How Public Transit Agencies Maintain Regulatory Compliance While Using Transportation Network Companies, Aaron Vogel

Master's Projects

The recent rise of Transportation Network Companies (TNC) has prompted some public transit agencies to collaborate with them to enhance their mobility options. Agencies around the country in cities like Pinellas Park, Fla., Boston, Mass., Dallas, TX and Livermore, Calif. are using TNCs as a part of their service delivery model to offer paratransit services, first and last mile solutions and general transit. This research focuses on the following questions:

1. How do public transit agencies adhere to regulatory requirements when implementing TNCs into their service plan?
2. Have agencies been challenged by any state or federal regulatory agencies on non-compliance by …

Wireless Network Neutrality: Technological Challenges And Policy Implications, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

One key aspect of the debate over network neutrality has been whether and how network neutrality should apply to wireless networks. The existing commentary has focused on the economics of wireless network neutrality, but to date a detailed analysis of how the technical aspects of wireless networks affect the implementation of network neutrality has yet to appear in the literature. As an initial matter, bad handoffs, local congestion, and the physics of wave propagation make wireless broadband networks significantly less reliable than fixed broadband networks. These technical differences require the network to manage dropped packets and congestion in a way …

Toward A Closer Integration Of Law And Computer Science, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

Legal issues increasingly arise in increasingly complex technological contexts. Prominent recent examples include the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), network neutrality, the increasing availability of location information, and the NSA’s surveillance program. Other emerging issues include data privacy, online video distribution, patent policy, and spectrum policy. In short, the rapid rate of technological change has increasingly shown that law and engineering can no longer remain compartmentalized into separate spheres. The logical response would be to embed the interaction between law and policy deeper into the fabric of both fields. An essential step would …

Wobbling Back To The Fire: Economic Efficiency And The Creation Of A Retail Market For Set-Top Boxes, T. Randolph Beard, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak, Michael Stern

GEORGE S FORD

Under Section 629 of the Communications Act, Congress directed the FCC to adopt regulations to promote a retail market for set-top boxes. The Commission’s first attempt was the ill-fated CableCard experiment, which—by the Commission’s own admission—was a dismal failure. In response, the Commission is now contemplating an aggressive new “AllVid” regime, whereby the agency would mandate multichannel video program distributors (“MVPDs”) to provide an adapter to serve as a “common interface for connection to televisions, DVRs, and other smart video devices.” Because the FCC is again proceeding without any formal economic analysis of the nature of the service-equipment relationship in …

The Need For Better Analysis Of High Capacity Services, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak

GEORGE S FORD

In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) began to grant incumbent local exchange carriers (“LECs”) pricing flexibility on special access services in some Metropolitan Statistical Areas (“MSAs”) when specific evidence of competitive alternatives is present. The propriety of that deregulatory move by the FCC has been criticized by the purchasers of such services ever since. Proponents of special access price regulation rely on three central arguments to support a retreat to strict price regulation: (1) the market(s) for special access and similar services is unduly concentrated; (2) rates of return on special access services, computed using FCC ARMIS data, are …

Risk Regulation At The Federal Level: Administrative Procedure Constraints And Opportunities, Jeffrey S. Lubbers

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

An introduction to the legal framework within which employees of the "twigs" on our fourth branch of government must operate. Particular attention is given to research sponsored by the Administrative Conference of the United States which has dealt with, for example, process problems in resolving specific issues and in building consensus on broad policy matters. [Excerpt] “Administrative agencies - the "twigs" on our fourth branch of government - are established to handle the details of administration deemed too painstaking, technically complex or even controversial for direct Congressional or Presidential involvement. In the current government structure, sometimes called the "modem administrative …

Siting Industrial Facilities In The Western United States, Joseph Browder

External Development Affecting the National Parks: Preserving "The Best Idea We Ever Had" (September 14-16)

24 pages.

Contains references.

Legal Issues Associated With Protecting Park Resources: Air Quality And Related Values, Molly N. Ross

External Development Affecting the National Parks: Preserving "The Best Idea We Ever Had" (September 14-16)

109 pages.

Contains references.

Contains 5 attachments:

1) United States Department of the Interior Memorandum, September 20, 1985: Protection of National Park System Units from the Adverse Effects of Air Pollution.

2) Library of Congress Congressional Research Service Memorandum, November 19, 1985: Comments on Department of the Interior Memorandum of September 20, 1985 Entitled "Protection of National Park System Units from the Adverse Effects of Air Pollution."

3) United States Department of the Interior Memorandum, May 15, 1986: Legal Authority of the Secretary to Protect the Air Quality and Related Values of NPS Units from Adverse Impacts of Surface Coal …