Federal Communications Law Journal

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Why stovepipe regulation no longer works: an essay on the need for a new market-oriented communications policy.
I. INTRODUCTION II. THE EXISTING REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: VERTICAL STOVEPIPES BASED ON TECHNO-FUNCTIONAL DISTINCTIONS III. THE PROBLEM: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND ABUNDANT BANDWlTH UNDERMI . . .

Costs and consequences of federal telecommunications regulations.
I. INTRODUCTION II. THE BASICS: EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC REGULATION A. Below Competitive Prices B. Above Competitive Prices C. Inflated Costs D. Stifled Innovation and Entrepreneurs . . .

Communications policy for 2006 and beyond.
I. INTRODUCTION II. ACCESS NETWORK COMPETITION A. Spectrum Policy to Develop Access Networks B. Access Network Competition and Unbundling C. Competing Access Networks Require Interc . . .

Editor's note.
Welcome to the 58th Volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal, the nation's premier journal in communications law and the official law journal of the Federal Communications Bar Association. T . . .

Digital Nation: Toward an Inclusive Information Society.(Book Review)
Digital Nation: Toward an Inclusive Information Society, Anthony G. Wilhelm, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2004, 184 pages. In the dawn of the information age, technological literacy and access are . . .

Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age.(Book Review)
Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age, Jonathan E. Nuechterlein & Philip J. Weiser, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2005, 670 pages. Most practitioners of communi . . .

Discriminatory filtering: CIPA's effect on our nation's youth and why the Supreme Court erred in upholding the constitutionality
I. INTRODUCTION II. LEGAL HISTORY OF THE CHILDREN'S INTERNET PROTECTION ACT A. What is CIPA? 1. What is a Filter and How Does It Work? a. Disabling Filters 2. Ob . . .

Virginia cellular and highland cellular: the FCC establishes a framework for eligible telecommunications carrier designation in
I. INTRODUCTION II. BACKGROUND III. CONTROVERSY AND SIGNIFICANCE IV. ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS DESIGNATION FRAMEWORK A. 1996 Telecommunications Act B. FCC Regulations and Decisi . . .

State regulatory approaches to VoIP: policy, implementation, and outcome.
I. APPROACHING VOIP A. The Genesis of Approaches B. The Functional Approach 1. Legal Approach (Application of State Law) 2. The States a. Non Cases-in-Controversy . . .

New objectives for CFIUS: foreign ownership, critical infrastructure, and communications interception.(Committee on Foreign Inve
I. NEW CHALLENGES II. THE CFIUS PROCESS III. RISKS OF FOREIGN OWNERSHIP IV. NEW GOALS FOR REGULATION Global economic integration creates new kinds of risks for national security. Foreign ownership . . .

Homeland security and wireless telecommunications: the continuing evolution of regulation.
I. INTRODUCTION II. PUBLIC INTEREST REGULATION IN THE NAME OF SAFETY A. Introduction B. CALEA 1. CALEA Statutory Framework 2. Implementation on the Wireless Platform--Part . . .

Navigating communications regulation in the wake of 9/11.
I. THE GOVERNMENT'S ENHANCED SURVEILLANCE AUTHORITY A. Changes to the Surveillance Statutes 1. Application to New Providers 2. New Classes of Surveillance Targets and Increased . . .

Securing the freedom of the communications revolution.(Introduction)
At the dawn of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote that "the design and end of government" was to provide the public with "freedom and security." (1) For the past 200 years, Americans seldom . . .

Editor's note.
Welcome to the third issue of the fifty-seventh volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal. A number of years have passed since September 11, and yet security issues continue to be at the fore . . .

Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Most Remarkable Invention of the 19th Century and the Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked a Re
Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Most Remarkable Invention of the 19th Century & the Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked a Revolution, Gavin Weightman, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003, 312 pa . . .

Broadcast flags and the war against digital television piracy: a solution or dilemma for the digital era?
I. INTRODUCTION II. THE MECHANICS OF THE SOLUTION A. The ATSC Flag B. The Flag's Technical Strengths and Vulnerabilities 1. Strengths of the Flag 2. Weaknesses of the Fl . . .

The contrasting policies of the FCC and FERC regarding the importance of open transmission networks in downstream competitive ma
I. BACKGROUND A. FERC's Historical Resistance to Competition and Court Mandates B. Origins and Evolution of FERC's Policies Regarding Access to Gas Pipelines and Electric . . .

Recent developments in program content regulation.
I. THE DEREGULATORY TREND THAT BEGAN IN THE 1970S II. 2004: STRENGTHENING OF RULES GOVERNING INDECENCY AND CHILDREN'S TV A. Indecency B. Children's Television on Digital Television . . .

My beef with big media: how government protects big media - and shuts out upstarts like me.
I. THE BIG SQUEEZE II. SUPERSIZING NETWORKS III. TRIPLE BLIGHT A. Loss of quality B. Loss of localism C. Loss of democratic debate IV. INDEPENDENTS' DAY In the late 1960s, when Tu . . .

Four more years ... of the status quo? How simple principles can lead us out of the regulatory wilderness.
I. INTRODUCTION II. REGULATORY CLASSIFICATIONS III. JURISDICTIONAL MATTERS IV. AGENCY POWER V. CONCLUSION: ENDING THE "CHICKEN LITTLE COMPLEX" I. INTRODUCTION As the Bush Administration beg . . .

The broadcast flag: it's not just TV.
I am not much of a TV person. My only set, non-HD, still picks up its channels through rabbit ears. The broadcast flag still gets me steamed, though, so much so that I recently built a high-definiti . . .

Time for change on media cross-ownership regulation.
I. INTRODUCTION II. THE REVISED CROSS-MEDIA RULES III. TODAY'S MEDIA MARKETPLACE IV. A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD V. PUBLIC INTEREST BENEFITS VI. THE THIRD CIRCUIT'S DECISION VII. STEPS FOR THE NEW A . . .

Universal service: problems, solutions, and responsive policies.
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE II. PROBLEMS WITH UNIVERSAL SERVICE III. PROBEMATIC POLICIES IV. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS V. FORBEARANCE, COMPETITION, INFORMATION SERVICES AND ARBITRAGE . . .

Convergence and competition - at last.
Nearly nine years after enactment of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and thirteen years after the 1992 Cable Act, the convergence set in motion by these landmark statutes is beginning to materialize . . .

The 2005 communications act of unintended consequences.
Communications policy has been a parade of grand themes. At the start of the last century, universal affordable service by AT&T, the dominant provider, became the overriding theme in telephony. It l . . .

Communications policy for the next four years.
I. ENSURING INFORMATION SECURITY IN A DIGITAL WORLD II. SPIES AMONG US III. NEXT-GENERATION E-911 IV. SPAM V. TV RATINGS FAIRNESS VI. ICANN REFORM VII. DIGITAL DEMOCRACY VIII. BROADBAND . . .

Editor's note.
I am delighted to welcome you to the second issue of Volume 57 of the Federal Communications Law Journal. This issue is the first of the Bush Administration's second term and the first since Chairma . . .

Staying afloat in the Internet stream: how to keep Web radio from drowning in digital copyright royalties.
I. INTRODUCTION II. COPYRIGHT LAW AND MUSICAL RECORDINGS A. Early Regulations B. The Birth of the Internet C. Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act D. The Digital M . . .

A horizontal leap forward: formulating a new communications public policy framework based on the network layers model.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I. OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY II. BACKGROUND A. The Worm of Legacy Communications Regulation B. The Network Engineering Concept of Layered Architecture 1. The . . .

Verizon Communications, Inc. V. FCC - telecommunications access pricing and regulator accountability through administrative law
I. INTRODUCTION II. U.S. TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION A. Deregulation Framework B. Access Pricing III. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND REVIEWING TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESS PRICES A. The . . .

Wandering along the road to competition and convergence - the changing CMRS roadmap.(commercial mobile radio services)
I. INTRODUCTION: THE WIRELESS ROAD LESS TRAVELED--TWO ROADS DIVERGED A. Once Again, Whither Wireless? B. Charting a Federal Course for CMRS--The FCC as Wilderness Guide II. . . .

Parity rules: mapping regulatory treatment of similar services.
I. INTRODUCTION II. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES A. Background 1. Wireline Telecommunications 2. Wireless Telecommunications B. Regulatory Issues 1. Market Power . . .

Editor's note.
Welcome to the third issue of the fifty-sixth volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal. This issue, comprised of four Articles and one student Note, deals with topics such as regulatory pari . . .

Spectrum Wars: The Policy and Technology Debate .(Book Review)
Spectrum Wars: The Policy and Technology Debate, Jennifer A. Manner, Boston: Artech House, 2003, 186 pages. I. INTRODUCTION 439 II. THE FREQUE . . .

Legislating the Tower of Babel: international restrictions on Internet content and the marketplace of ideas.
I. INTRODUCTION 418 II. FOREIGN THREATS TO FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTION OF ONLINE AMERICAN NEWS CONTENT 419 . . .

Finding substance in the FCC's policy of "substantial service".
I. INTRODUCTION 398 II. THE PROCESS OF LICENSE RENEWAL 399 III. "SUBSTANTIAL SERVICE" . . .

Rocking Wrigley: the Chicago Cubs' off-field struggle to compete for ticket sales with its rooftop neighbors.
I. INTRODUCTION 378 II. FCC AND JUDICIAL RECOGNITION 381 A. FCC Leniency . . .

Unmasking hidden commercials in broadcasting: origins of the sponsorship identification regulations, 1927-1963.
I. INTRODUCTION 330 II. THE UNCERTAIN PLACE OF SPONSOR IDENTIFICATION IN EARLY RADIO REGULATION . . .

Rehearsal for media regulation: congress versus the telegraph-news monopoly, 1866-1900.
I. THE CENTURY THAT NEVER HAPPENED 300 II. FREE SPEECH AND THE RISE OF CORPORATE AMERICA 302 III. WESTERN UNION, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, AND THE . . .

Why the world radiocommunication conference continues to be relevant today.
I. INTRODUCTION 287 II. WHAT IS THE WRC? 288 III. WHY IS THE WRC RELEVANT TODAY? 29 . . .

Editor's note.
Welcome to the second issue of the fifty-sixth volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal. This issue presents a diverse selection of communications law topics, including telegraph and wire se . . .

Controlling Market Power in Telecommunications.(Book Review)
Controlling Market Power in Telecommunications: Antitrust vs. Sector-specific Regulation, Damien Geradin & Michel Kerf, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 401 pages. I. INTRODUCTION In Contr . . .

A round "PEG" for a round hole: advocating for the Town of Oyster Bay's public access channel restrictions.(public, educational,
I. INTRODUCTION A new version of an old trend is rising in the advertising world. Often called "alternative" or "guerilla" marketing, the trend finds marketers giving expensive items from expensiv . . .

Is federal preemption efficient in cellular phone regulation?
Increased regulation of wireless telephone service is being proposed by both federal and state policy makers, raising the question of optimal jurisdiction. The case for decentralization (state rules . . .

The role of efficiencies in telecommunications merger review.
I. INTRODUCTION A. The Rise and Fall of the Telecom Industry In the last decade, the telecommunications industry has experienced significant growth and consolidation in response to such external . . .

Say cheese: the constitutionality of state-mandated free airtime on public broadcasting stations in Wisconsin.
I. INTRODUCTION On July 26, 2002, the State of Wisconsin, as part of a comprehensive budget bill and campaign finance reform package, required the State Board of Elections to promulgate rules that . . .

TELRIC vs. universal service: a takings violation?(total element long-run incremental cost)
I. INTRODUCTION By longstanding tradition, local phone companies are required to sell their services to customers at roughly comparable prices. (1) This so-called "universal service" obligation is . . .

Editor's note.
Welcome to the first issue of Volume 56 of the Federal Communications Law Journal. The staff is excited about this issue's broad range of topics, including local telephone service regulation, politi . . .

The Public Television Legal Survival Guide, 2d ed.(Book Review)
The Public Television Legal Survival Guide, 2d ed., Association of Public Television Stations, 2001, 254 pages. The book can be ordered only through the Association of Public Television Stations. . . .

"Do you believe in miracles?" (television)
The scene was the 1980 Winter Olympic Hockey Arena at Lake Placid, New York. Late in the third period, American team Captain Mike Eruzione hit a wrist shot past the goalie for the heavily favored So . . .