Communications Law Commons^™

Behavioral Advertising: From One-Sided Chicken To Informational Norms, Richard Warner, Robert Sloan

All Faculty Scholarship

When you download the free audio recording software from Audacity, you agree that Audacity may collect your information and use it to send you advertising. Billions of such pay-with-data exchanges feed information daily to a massive advertising ecosystem that tailors web site advertising as closely as possible to individual interests. The vast majority want considerably more control over our information. We nonetheless routinely enter pay-with-data exchanges when we visit CNN.com, use Gmail, or visit any of a vast number of other websites. Why? And, what, if anything, should we do about it? We answer both questions by describing pay-with-data exchanges …

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

CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Technology Policy (1993-2015)

No abstract provided.

Privacy Policies, Terms Of Service, And Ftc Enforcement: Broadening Unfairness Regulation For A New Era, G. S. Hans

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Note examines website privacy policies in the context of FTC regulation. The relevant portion of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), uses the following language to define the scope of the agency's regulatory authority: "Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful." Specifically, this Note analyzes the FTC's power to regulate unfair practices (referred to as the FTC's "unfairness power") granted by Section 5, and also discusses the deception prong of Section 5, which allows the agency to …

What If The Big Bad Wolf In All Those Fairy Tales Was Just Misunderstood?: Techniques For Maintaining Narrative Rationality While Altering Stock Stories That Are Harmful To Your Client’S Case, Jennifer Sheppard

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Cognitive researches have established that humans think in terms of stories and, consequently, are persuaded by stories. That means that lawyers must be wary of stock stories that effect how an audience views a given set of circumstances. When a stock story is so pervasive that it will not allow a lawyer to ignore it or a more favorable alternative story does not exist, a lawyer can present the client's story from an alternative perspective that will not evoke the embedded knowledge structures triggered by the unfavorable stock story. The lawyer can accomplish this by tinkering with the different threads …

Drafting A Solution: Impact Of The New Salary System On The First-Year Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, Nicholas A. Deming

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Major League Baseball has evolved over the years. What was once a game played by residents of small towns across the country is now a multibillion dollar industry with international ties and ever-expanding exposure. With this transformation, the needs of the game have changed and its place in the judicial framework is unsettled. Currently, there is a growing discrepancy between small-market and large-market Major League Baseball teams. In part, the first-year amateur draft often fails to steer the most talented players to the worst teams because of financial concerns surrounding signing rookies. Major League Baseball had the opportunity to fix …

Libel Capital No More? Reforming British Defamation Law, Stephen Bates

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

London has long been known as the libel capital of the world. Through substantive law, expansive jurisdiction, and high litigation costs, the British courts strongly favor libel plaintiffs. Aspects of the system have come under increasing criticism from a variety of sources, including academics, nongovernmental organizations, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights, the British Ministry of Justice, and a committee of the House of Commons. In March 2011, the British government proposed far-reaching reforms. Four months later, however, new revelations emerged about phone-hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. As a consequence, the …

Parody Or Identity Theft: The High-Wire Act Of Digital Doppelgangers In California, Katharine Malone

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Several recent high-profile instances of cyberbullying and online impersonation have prompted state legislatures to take action against this real and growing problem. As part of this trend, California recently enacted Senate Bill 1411, which criminalizes "e-personation." At first glance, this statute looks perfectly reasonable: it is short, filled with good intentions, and merely applies existing harassment, intimidation and fraud laws to the relatively recent medium of the Internet. However, a thorough read reveals vague and overly broad language which could result in chilled political activism and free speech. This note analyzes the statute and attempts to provide some guidance on …

Privacy In Social Media: The Right Of Publicity, S. Michael Kernan

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The increasing ubiquity of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, has led to a growing concern regarding the right of privacy on the internet. The myriad of common law cases on the issue provide website operators (and their advertisers) with little or no clear direction as to what is and is not permitted. At the same time, as websites monetize using an advertising model, that monetization is colliding with privacy rights, specifically, the right of publicity. The right of publicity has been heavily litigated lately, in particular against Facebook as it attempts to monetize its massive user base. This …

Ambush Marketing: Dissecting The Discourse, Brian Lee Pelanda

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article discusses the problematic discourse in which scholars and corporate complainants such as the International Olympic Committee have discussed the issue of ambush marketing. It argues that those who persistently complain about ambush marketing have wielded the term far too liberally, and thus a great deal of confusion exists between the generally accepted definition of ambush marketing and the reality of the circumstances surrounding the numerous marketing strategies that the term is commonly used to describe. While much of the current literature on the subject concludes that the existing state of the law in the United States is not …

“I Agreed To What?”: A Call For Enforcement Of Clarity In The Presentation Of Privacy Policies, David Thompson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Though the federal government has enacted statutes regulating privacy policies in limited contexts, there is no generally applicable law governing the nature of privacy policies across all industries. In light of the ever-increasing prevalence of user data collection and the widespread failure of companies under the self-regulatory model to make their policies readable, of reasonable length, and placed in a noticeable location, I argue that such a regulation should be promulgated.

This note will address the difficulties of preserving one's privacy in the digital era, discuss common shortcomings of privacy policies, explore the negative consequences of these shortcomings, then analyze …

Dropped Calls: The Extent Of The Free Speech Guarantee To Wireless Communications Service, Candice Shin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

From former President Hosni Mubarak's final days as ruler of Egypt to the Bay Area Rapid Transit's response to the protests on August 11, 2011, governmental entities have increasingly responded to civil unrest by restricting or shutting down wireless communication networks to thrwart further coordination among civilian agitators. Whether BART itself faces another occasion in which to consider disabling its wireless infrastructure, future protests and threats to public safety in the United States are inevitable. To that end, Congress has considered bills that would grant the President the ability to essentially shut down the Internet, including the Protecting Cyberspace as …

Facing The Fear: A Free Market Approach For Economic Expression, Nancy J. Whitmore

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Commentators differ on whether a diminished constitutional status for profit-driven speech is consistent with free speech theory. Most recently, the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission largely embraced an unfettered marketplace approach for political speech financed by corporate treasuries. Given the harm a free market approach is said to have produced in the economic realm, is this approach useful for structuring the constitutional protection economic expression receives? This article discusses the placement of economic expression within First Amendment theory and contends that restrictions on economic speech should be aimed at combating deceptive economic …

The Wrath Of The Blizz King: How The Ninth Circuit’S Decision In Mdy Industries, Inc. V. Blizzard Entertainment May Slay The Game Genie, Alessandra Garbagnati

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Since its release in 2004, Blizzard Entertainment's ("Blizzard") World of Warcraft ("WoW") has become the world's most infamous and popular massively multiplayer online role playing game. The company's strong anticheating policy culminated in the Ninth Circuit's decision in MDY Industries v. Blizzard Entertainment, where the court held that the rights holders could use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to prevent circumvention even where there is no actual copyright infringement involved. Although cheaters are not a sympathetic group of people, the Ninth Circuit's decision strays from similar decisions by other circuit courts and potentially grants rights holders like Blizzard the …

Viewer Discretion Is Advised: Disconnects Between The Marketplace Of Ideas And Social Media Used To Communicate Information During Emergencies And Public Health Crises, Peter Maggiore

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

In a sense, social media has become the ideal manifestation of the "Marketplace of Ideas" (hereinafter "Marketplace") that Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes articulated. The Marketplace concept will be discussed in greater detail below, but in brief, it is the theory that truth will surface over falsehoods when all opinions and ideas are freely expressed, because the value or worth of that opinion or idea will be determined on the market of public opinion. Part I of this Note will examine the Marketplace concept through the works of various legal and philosophical theorists. Chief among them is Frederick Schauer's work …

A Risk Not Worth The Reward: The Stored Communications Act And Employers’ Collection Of Employees’ And Job Applicants’ Social Networking Passwords, Nicholas D. Beadle

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

How The Traditional Property Rights Model Informs The Television Broadcasting Spectrum Rationalization Challenge, J. Armand Musey

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This paper examines the role zoning rights and eminent domain may play in the Federal Communication Commission's ("FCC") challenge of reallocating underutilized television broadcast spectrum for use in significantly higher value mobile broadband applications. The government must find a way to reallocate the spectrum in an economically and legally efficient manner, balancing the interests of the politically powerful broadcasters and those of society as a whole. From a strictly legal perspective, the broadcasters have a relatively weak claim to property rights. However, the government has indicated it seeks an incentivized voluntary return of spectrum by the broadcasters, suggesting the government …

The Transformative Tribute: How Mash-Up Music Constitutes Fair Use Of Copyrights, Vera Golosker

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The music industry faces copyright protection issues in light of the transformative digital sampling trend, which has carved out a new genre: mash-up. Without obtaining licensing agreements, creators of mash-up music use parts of copyrighted songs as the ingredients for a fusion of sounds that arguably amounts to more creative value than the sum of its parts. In confronting the legality of mash-up music, courts and legislators must strike a balance between securing original artists' interest and promoting new frontiers of expression. This article presents a background of digital sampling, applies the fair use defense to mash-up music, and proposes …

Online Business Reviews And The Public Figure Doctrine: An Advertising-Based Standard, Jenna Morton

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Online reviews exert a powerful influence of consumers, who rely on the reviews to choose restaurants, barbers, doctors, and many other businesses. Businesses also rely on the reviews as an important form of advertisement. False reviews thus harm both businesses and consumers. Businesses that are harmed by false online reviews can bring a defamation action against the reviewer. However, the current legal standard is unclear as applied to businesses, as it looks to whether an individual is a "public figure." This note weighs the costs and benefits of three possible legal standards for businesses bringing defamation actions: (1) a bright …

Of Guilds And Men: Copyright Workarounds In The Cinematographic Industry, Adriane Porcin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The motion picture industry utilizes a varied collection of more or less formal mechanisms for dealing with the collective nature of audiovisual works, ranging from collective bargaining to legal presumptions. What these instances of copyright workarounds have in common is that they are all about circumventing traditional notions of authorship (the right to be deemed the author of a work) and ownership (the right to exert control over a work). When considered from an international perspective, the cinematographic industry is fertile ground for an exploration of such mechanisms.

After a recitation of the Berne Convention, this paper will proceed to …

Crowdsourcing A Trademark: What The Public Giveth, The Courts May Taketh Away, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

There is a long tradition of trademark holders relying on the public to create designations that they then adopt as a trademark. Historically, this has been a long and slow process. Acquiring secondary meaning from the individual's first use of the designation could take years. Web 2.0 and other forms of social media have the potential to speed up this process through the use of User Generated Content ("UGC"). Frequently, coined designations are nicknames for well-known brands, so they are potentially quite valuable. Trademark law is ambiguous regarding who owns a designation created by the public, if the individual claiming …