Communications Law Commons^™

Freedom To Discriminate: Assessing The Lawfulness And Utility Of Biased Broadband Networks, Rob Frieden

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article assesses the potential for harm to broadband consumers and competitors when Internet service providers (ISPs) tier service by combining so-called "unlimited usage" with reduced video image resolution and also by not metering usage when subscribers access specific content sources. ISPs previously generated no regulatory concerns when they developed different tiers of service and price points based on content transmission speeds and monthly allotment of data consumption.

However, recent "zero rating" and "unlimited" data offers have triggered questions as to whether ISPs engage in unlawful paid prioritization of certain traffic from specific sources or in traffic degradation by receiving …

Visual Literacy For The Legal Profession, Richard K. Sherwin

Articles & Chapters

Digital technology has transformed the way we communicate in society. Swept along on a digital tide, words, sounds, and images easily, and often, flow together. This state of affairs has radically affected not only our commercial and political practices in society, but also the way we practice law.

Unfortunately, legal education and legal theory have not kept up. Inconsistencies and unpredictability in the way courts ascertain the admissibility of various kinds of visual evidence and visual argumentation, lapses in the cross examination of visual evidence at trial, and inadequately theorized notions of visual meaning and the epistemology of affect tell …

What Authorizes The Image? The Visual Economy Of Post-Secular Jurisprudence, Richard Sherwin

Articles & Chapters

In law’s visual economy our commitment to justice grows out of a renewed encounter with an interior libidinal source whose ongoing collective investment binds us to the nomos in which we live. We experience this corporeal bond in paintings, films, and video images on screens large and small. In the ethically inflected aesthetic of post-secular jurisprudence, justice is to law as beauty is to art. As distant as an abstract expressionist canvas, as close as any neighbor, or indeed any screen on which the neighbor becomes real to us. That is where we behold the source and instantiation of law’s …

Safe Harbors And The Evolution Of Online Platform Markets: An Economic Analysis, T. Randolph Beard, George S. Ford, Michael Stern

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

When a pirated version of a copyrighted work is shared over the Internet, many online intermediaries may participate, exposing these firms to liability through legal concepts such as direct, contributory and vicarious infringement. Safe harbors largely shield intermediaries from "crippling liability" in return for cooperative action on infringing materials. Yet, digital piracy remains a problem. In this paper, we offer a simple economic model of safe harbor protection, demonstrating that de minimis liability for these platforms promotes infringing platforms to the detriment of responsible ones. Increasing the risk of liability for infringement results in a "separating equilibrium," with one platform …

In The Privacy Of One's Own Home: Does New York State Law Prevent Invasions Of Privacy In The Home?, Madeline Kessler

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reaching For The Stars: A Proposal To The Ftc To Help Deter Astroturfing And Fake Reviews, Matthew Barish

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fair Use & Fair Play: Olympic Marketing In The Information Age, Alex Locke

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note critiques the overreach of intellectual property protections surrounding the Olympics, which have led to hyperlitigation, stifled public engagement, and disproportionately harmed smaller entities while benefiting large corporations. It proposes reforming the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act by incorporating a fair use framework, modeled after the Copyright Royalty Board, to balance intellectual property enforcement with public participation and transparency. This approach aims to address the challenges posed by ambush marketing and sponsorship protection in the modern media landscape while ensuring equitable opportunities for all stakeholders.

Not Forgetting Just Obscuring: American And European Attempts To Maintain Privacy In The Digital Age, John Corrado

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note explores the concept of the right to obscurity as a subset of privacy rights, distinguishing it from the right to be forgotten. It examines how this right is addressed in E.U. and U.S. law, highlighting the E.U.'s robust framework under the GDPR and the more limited, sector-specific protections in the U.S. The analysis emphasizes the importance of balancing individual privacy rights with freedom of expression and the public interest, advocating for a proactive approach to data control rather than retroactive deletion.

The Unexpected Scope Of The Cfaa: And How Netflix Users Could Be Committing A Federal Crime, Michael Levy

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The Ninth Circuit's broad interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in United States v. Nosal II criminalizes everyday activities like password sharing, undermining the Act's original purpose to prevent hacking. The court ruled that accessing a computer after authorization has been revoked constitutes a violation, even if the access is for innocuous purposes. This interpretation disproportionately benefits large service providers, allowing them to suppress legitimate user claims and exposing millions of Americans to potential prosecution for common online practices.

The Trope Of Parity, Michael Del Priore

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

User-Generated Evidence, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Around the world, people are using their smartphones to document atrocities. This Article is the first to address the implications of this important development for international criminal law. While acknowledging the potential benefits such user-generated evidence could have for international criminal investigations, the Article identifies three categories of concern related to its use: (i) user security; (ii) evidentiary bias; and (iii) fair trial rights. In the absence of safeguards, user-generated evidence may address current problems in international criminal justice at the cost of creating new ones and shifting existing problems from traditional actors, who have institutional backing, to individual users …

Microsoft Ireland, The Cloud Act, And International Lawmaking 2.0, Jennifer Daskal

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

On March 23, President Trump signed the CLOUD Act, 1 thereby mooting one of the most closely watched Supreme Court cases this term: the Microsoft Ireland case. 2 This essay examines these extraordinary and fast-moving developments, explaining how the Act resolves the Supreme Court case and addresses the complicated questions of jurisdiction over data in the cloud. The developments represent a classic case of international lawmaking via domestic regulation, as mediated by major multinational corporations that manage so much of the world's data.

"Enemy Of The People": Negotiating News At The White House, Carol Pauli

Faculty Scholarship

How can the press serve as a check on executive power when the president calls it “fake” and the White House denies facts? As journalists debate the right response, this article offers advice from the perspective of a journalist who is now in the legal academy. Drawing on legal scholarship in the field of conflict resolution — as well as literature in journalism and political science — this article analyzes the White House press briefing as a negotiation over both the content of news and the relationship of the press and president. It aims to help the press fulfill the …

Introduction: Troubling Transparency, David E. Pozen, Michael Schudson

Faculty Scholarship

Transparency is a value in the ascendance. Across the globe, the past several decades have witnessed a spectacular explosion of legislative reforms and judicial decisions calling for greater disclosure about the workings of public institutions. Freedom of information laws have proliferated, claims of a constitutional or supra-constitutional "right to know" have become commonplace, and an international transparency lobby has emerged as a civil society powerhouse. Open government is seen today in many quarters as a foundation of, if not synonymous with, good government.

At the same time, a growing number of scholars, advocates, and regulators have begun to raise hard …

Corporate Cybersecurity: The International Threat To Private Networks And How Regulations Can Mitigate It, Eric J. Hyla

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Cyberattacks are occurring at an accelerating pace. Foreign nations are increasingly utilizing hacking as a tool for economic gain, acts of aggression, or international political expression. At risk are US consumers'personal data, private firms' bottom line, and the economies'integrity. In response, federal and state lawmakers have issued a series of disparate, uncoordinated policies seeking to strengthen cybersecurity practices. However, recent events indicate that these policies are less than ideal. This Note suggests that a unified response to cybersecurity is required and calls for the establishment of a single, central federal agency with authority over all cybersecurity regulations. Such an agency …

Table Of Contents

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Viewer Disability And Television Accessibility: Closed-Captioning And Video Description Requirements In Today's Television Environment, Kimberlianne Podlas

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the legal and practical challenges of ensuring accessibility for individuals with sensory impairments in the contemporary television landscape, highlighting gaps in current regulations and the role of voluntary industry efforts in advancing accessibility. It argues that while laws like the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provide a framework for accessibility, they fail to comprehensively address the complexities of modern streaming platforms and digital services. The analysis emphasizes the importance of both regulatory expansion and industry-led initiatives to achieve equitable access for all viewers.

Learned Hand's Seven Other Ideas About The Freedom Of Speech, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

I say “other” because, regarding the freedom of speech, Learned Hand has suffered the not uncommon fate of having his best ideas either drowned out or credited exclusively to others due to the excessive attention that has been bestowed on one of his lesser ideas. Sitting as a district judge in the case of Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten, Hand wrote the earliest judicial opinion about the freedom of speech that has attained canonical status. He ruled that under the recently passed Espionage Act of 1917, writings critical of government cannot be grounds for imposing criminal punishment or the …

Narrative Topoi In The Digital Age, Zahr K. Said, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

Decades of thoughtful law and humanities scholarship have made the case for using humanistic texts and methods in the legal classroom. We build on that scholarship by identifying and describing three “narrative topoi” of the twenty-first century – podcasts, twitter and fake news. We use the term “topos” (from the Greek meaning “place”) and its plural, “topoi,” to mean “a literary commonplace” and “general setting for discussion” in the context of literary forms. Like an identifiable genre, narrative topoi are familiar story paths for audiences to travel. These narrative topoi live in contemporary popular culture and are products of digital …

Why Courts Fail To Protect Privacy: Race, Age, Bias, And Technology, Bernard Chao, Catherine Durso, Ian Farrell, Christopher Robertson

Faculty Scholarship

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable “searches and seizures,” but in the digital age of stingray devices and IP tracking, what constitutes a search or seizure? The Supreme Court has held that the threshold question is supposed to depend on and reflect the “reasonable expectations” of ordinary members of the public concerning their own privacy. For example, the police now exploit the “third party” doctrine to access data held by email and cell phone providers, without securing a warrant, on the Supreme Court’s intuition that the public has no expectation of privacy in that information. Is that assumption correct? If …