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open access

The FCC's Authority to Regulate Net Neutrality after Comcast v. FCC

Description: This report examines the ramifications of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's April 6, 2010 ruling that the FCC could not base ancillary authority to regulate cable Internet services solely upon broad policy goals contained in the Communications Act. The decision has intensified the Net Neutrality debate and made the governments regulatory authority on the matter less clear.
Date: April 23, 2010
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Funeral Protests: Selected Federal Laws and Constitutional Issues

Description: This report discusses the Supreme Court's decision in Snyder vs. Phelps, which deals with the question of Westboro Baptist Church's tort liability, a church that has protested military funerals for a number of years. It analyzes the constitutional issues facing federal laws that create funeral protest buffer zones and examines legislative options for amending the federal laws restricting funeral protests, including H.R. 961.
Date: March 22, 2011
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues

Description: This report will discuss the history of the Fairness Doctrine, enforcement of the doctrine by the FCC, abolition of it by the FCC, efforts to effect and to prevent its reinstatement, and potential constitutional issues with reinstating the doctrine as applied to broadcasters and as applied to satellite and cable television providers.
Date: July 13, 2011
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Telemarketing Regulation: National and State Do Not Call Registries

Description: This report will outline the laws underpinning the National Do Not Call List; describe the regulations implementing the list; answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to the list; and discuss the possible penalties for violating the rules. The report will also briefly discuss some of the ways the various states have implemented their own do not call lists.
Date: April 1, 2016
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Advocacy of Terrorism on the Internet: Freedom of Speech Issues and the Material Support Statutes

Description: This report discusses relevant precedent concerning the extent to which advocacy of terrorism may be restricted in a manner consistent with the First Amendment's Freedom of Speech Clause. The report also discusses the potential application of the federal ban on the provision of material support to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) to the advocacy of terrorism, including as it relates to the dissemination of such advocacy via online services like Twitter or Facebook.
Date: September 8, 2016
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

How Broad a Shield? A Brief Overview of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

Description: This report discusses Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 which was added too the law in 1996 to provide liability protection to online service providers regarding what users posted on their sites. Concerns about criminal activity being allowed to continue by companies due to the law and internet freedom advocates support for the law are discussed.
Date: February 21, 2018
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Net Neutrality: The FCC's Authority to Regulate Broadband Internet Traffic Management

Description: This report discusses the major debate over the government's role in the Internet. Legally, the question appears to be whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) currently has the authority to regulate the ways in which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) manage Internet traffic over their networks.
Date: March 26, 2014
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Net Neutrality: Selected Legal Issues Raised by the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order

Description: This report discusses the primary legal issues raised by the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) 2015 Open Internet Order: the FCC's authority to reclassify broadband Internet access services, the FCC's authority to forbear from the imposition of Title II regulations following reclassification, the FCC's authority under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and whether the FCC properly complied with the Administrative Procedure Act.
Date: April 6, 2015
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Privacy Law and Online Advertising

Description: This report will examine the application of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Communications Act to online behavioral advertising in more detail. It is likely that in many cases these laws could be held to apply to such activities and that these methods of data collection would be forbidden unless consent is obtained from one of the parties to the communication.
Date: January 20, 2010
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Media Consolidation: United States v. AT&T and Implications for Future Transactions

Description: This report discusses the proposed merger of AT&T, Inc. (AT&T) with Time Warner Inc. (Time Warner), after one of the most closely watched antitrust trials in recent memory. This report first outlines current Section 7 doctrine and then discusses the particularities of the government's case against AT&T and Time Warner and the court's decision to allow the transaction to proceed. Finally, it analyzes the decision's implications for the media industry and future antitrust cases, and identify pote… more
Date: July 16, 2018
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Broadband Deployment: Legal Issues for the Siting of Wireless Communications Facilities and Amendments to the Pole Attachment Rule

Description: This report provides an overview of the federal,state, and local laws governing the siting of wireless communications facilities, including recent amendments to federal law governing tower siting contained in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.
Date: April 11, 2013
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Current Legal Status of the FCC’s Media Ownership Rules

Description: This report discusses the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) media ownership regulations, which place limits on the number of broadcast radio and television outlets one owner can possess in a given market and place cross-ownership restrictions on these outlets and on the cross-ownership of broadcast properties and newspapers.
Date: August 23, 2010
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The FCC's Authority to Regulate Net Neutrality After Comcast v. FCC

Description: This report discusses the major debate over the government's role in the Internet that is currently occurring. Legally, the question appears to be whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) currently has the authority to regulate the ways in which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) manage Internet traffic over their networks. The FCC adopted an Internet Policy Statement in 2005 that expressed the agency's support for a policy of non-discrimination toward Internet traffic, … more
Date: September 26, 2011
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The FCC's Authority to Regulate Net Neutrality After Comcast v. FCC

Description: This report examines the ramifications of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's April 6, 2010 ruling that the FCC could not base ancillary authority to regulate cable Internet services solely upon broad policy goals contained in the Communications Act. The decision has intensified the Net Neutrality debate and made the governments regulatory authority on the matter less clear.
Date: December 2, 2010
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Selected Freedom of Speech Scholarship

Description: President Obama has nominated his Solicitor General, Elena Kagan, to be the next Supreme Court Justice. If confirmed, she would fill the seat being vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens upon his retirement at the end of the 2009/2010 term. Prior to her term as Solicitor General, Ms. Kagan, in her capacity as an academic and scholar, wrote influential pieces analyzing free speech jurisprudence. This report will explain these articles in further detail, as well as an additional, shorter piece, dis… more
Date: June 18, 2010
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Net Neutrality: Selected Legal Issues Raised by the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order

Description: This report discusses the primary legal issues raised by the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) 2015 Open Internet Order: the FCC's authority to reclassify broadband Internet access services, the FCC's authority to forbear from the imposition of Title II regulations following reclassification, the FCC's authority under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and whether the FCC properly complied with the Administrative Procedure Act.
Date: June 12, 2015
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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