940-012 L&CP: Telecommunications Law

Instructor: Smith, L



Telecommunications Law I covers the law and policies which govern the U. S.
telecommunications and Internet systems, including radio, television, cable,
and other mass media services, as well as telephone, mobile communications and
new technologies. Telecommunications Law I addresses mainstream media,
telecommunications, and Internet regulatory issues. Students will be presented
with the major regulatory principles and approaches relevant to
telecommunications and Internet regulation, as well as current and upcoming
legal and public policy issues, including the Obama administrations plan to
revamp the way the Internet is provided and regulated.



The course is designed to encourage participation and
debate on legal and public policy issues, including whether and how citizens 
get access to the mainstream media, whether governmental prohibitions on
viewing violent, harassing or sexually oriented material on mainstream media or
over the Internet are lawful, whether ownership of mass media can or should be
limited to enhance diversity of information, whether some consumers should pay
more than others to fund a subsidy system to ensure that telephone and Internet
service are universally available in, for example, rural or low income areas,
whether the marketplace can regulate or ensure availability, quality and price
of telecommunications services, or how new uses of the Internet should be
treated. Other material may be added to respond to events or student interests.



During the course, a variety of research materials
will be used, including statutes, case law, agency rules, blogs, speeches by
government and NGO policy makers, law review and popular press articles, as
well as diverse Internet sources. It is anticipated that each student will
write a 20-25 page paper, on a topic selected by the student, related to the
material presented in class. The paper usually counts for 75-80% of the grade;
class participation and preparation  for 25-20%. The course is open to
second and third year students. Linda K. Smith, who has been an active practitioner
of telecommunications law, a consultant to the Governor's Blue Ribbon
Telecommunications Infrastructure Task Force, and a senior partner in the
Telecommunications Group of the

Washington,
D.C. law firm of Crowell & Moring, has been teaching
at the

Law
School for 18 years. She has served as co-chair of the
Federal Communications Bar Associations Publications Committee, which oversees
the Federal Communications Law Journal, and as a member of the board of various
non-profit entities in

Wisconsin and

Washington,
D.C.