Deregulating Telecommunications in Internet Time

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has yielded more litigation and less local competition than its supporters expected or intended. Calls for its reform are multiplying. In this Article, Professor Septa diagnoses the 1996 Act\u27s failings and prescribes a framework for reform. The successful deregulations of the transportation industries and of long-distance telecommunications (precedents the 1996 Act sought to follow) demonstrate that the Act should have taken additional steps to promote intermodal telecommunications competition. Transportation deregulation successfully prompted competition where (as in the case of airlines and trucking) multiple firms could compete on an intramodal basis or where (as in the case of railroads) the single firm was subject to intermodal competition from firms using other technologies. The 1996 Act\u27s reliance on the unbundling of incumbent local telephone companies\u27 networks reveals that its supporters thought that portions of the local wireline networks would remain bottlenecks. The lesson, therefore, is that the 1996 Act should have taken additional steps to create the conditions for intermodal competition. Based on this analysis, Professor Septa outlines a new communications law that increases the possibilities for intermodal competition. Indeed, the glimmers of hope for local competition-cell phone substitution and voiceover- Internet-protocol (VoIP) telephony-are intermodal competitors. Although the 1996 Act did move in this direction and the Federal Communications Commission is vigorous on several fronts, more can be done. Spectrum reform (the most significant missed opportunity in the 1996 Act) and other steps would decrease legal and economic barriers to intermodal competition. The Article also addresses local and state control of telecommunications carriers, regulatory parity, universal service reform, and government funding of research and infrastructure, and it offers a technology-neutral regulatory scheme for VoIP. The proposed deregulatory agenda seeks a law capable of accommodating the speed and diversity of technological change in this Internet time

Deregulating Telecommunications in Internet Time

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has yielded more litigation and less local competition than its supporters expected or intended. Calls for its reform are multiplying. In this Article, Professor Septa diagnoses the 1996 Act\u27s failings and prescribes a framework for reform. The successful deregulations of the transportation industries and of long-distance telecommunications (precedents the 1996 Act sought to follow) demonstrate that the Act should have taken additional steps to promote intermodal telecommunications competition. Transportation deregulation successfully prompted competition where (as in the case of airlines and trucking) multiple firms could compete on an intramodal basis or where (as in the case of railroads) the single firm was subject to intermodal competition from firms using other technologies. The 1996 Act\u27s reliance on the unbundling of incumbent local telephone companies\u27 networks reveals that its supporters thought that portions of the local wireline networks would remain bottlenecks. The lesson, therefore, is that the 1996 Act should have taken additional steps to create the conditions for intermodal competition. Based on this analysis, Professor Septa outlines a new communications law that increases the possibilities for intermodal competition. Indeed, the glimmers of hope for local competition-cell phone substitution and voiceover- Internet-protocol (VoIP) telephony-are intermodal competitors. Although the 1996 Act did move in this direction and the Federal Communications Commission is vigorous on several fronts, more can be done. Spectrum reform (the most significant missed opportunity in the 1996 Act) and other steps would decrease legal and economic barriers to intermodal competition. The Article also addresses local and state control of telecommunications carriers, regulatory parity, universal service reform, and government funding of research and infrastructure, and it offers a technology-neutral regulatory scheme for VoIP. The proposed deregulatory agenda seeks a law capable of accommodating the speed and diversity of technological change in this Internet time

Boden Lecture: The Past’s Lessons for Today: Can Common-Carrier Principles Make for a Better Internet?

None

Supervising Managed Services

Many Internet-access providers simultaneously offer Internet access and other services, such as traditional video channels, video on demand, voice calling, and other emerging services, through a single, converged platform. These other services—which can be called managed services because the carrier offers them only to its subscribers in a manner designed to ensure some quality of service—in many circumstances will compete with services that are offered by unaffiliated parties as applications or services on the Internet. This situation creates an important interaction effect between the domains of Internet access and managed services, an effect that has largely been missing from the decade-long debate over network neutrality rules for Internet service. This Article examines this interaction effect, focusing on the context of online video services and on the recent NBC-Comcast transaction that finally highlighted these concerns. The Article contends that, when these interaction effects are understood, a nondiscrimination rule applied only to a converged carrier\u27s Internet service can be rendered ineffective by the carrier\u27s move to managed services offerings. As a result, a nondiscrimination rule, if it is to be effective, would need to be supplemented by specific behavioral or structural rules that both require the carrier to maintain its Internet service and limit the carrier\u27s freedom of action in the managed services domain. This reveals the difficulty of drafting effective nondiscrimination rules. It also reveals that noneconomic justifications for nondiscrimination rules cannot stand alone; they must be supplemented by the economic-reasoning tools common to antitrust argument, in order to identify and determine the ultimate effects of the rules

Narrowing the Scope of Civil Drug Forfeiture: Section 881, Substantial Connection and the Eighth Amendment

This Note offers two justifications for narrowing the scope of section 881 forfeiture. Part I argues that courts should apply the substantial connection test to section 881 forfeitures. This Part analyzes the statute using the traditional tools of statutory interpretation. While the text of the statute seems to support the broadest possible interpretation, the legislative history and context of adoption suggest that the substantial connection test is consistent with Congressional intent. In amending section 881, subsequent Congresses have favored application of the substantial connection test. Consistent with this narrower reading, present strategy in the war on drugs focuses stiff penalties on principal traffickers; individual users receive significantly more lenient treatment. Part II argues that eighth amendment review should limit section 881 forfeiture. Section II.A argues that section 881 forfeiture, despite its civil label, functions as a criminal punishment to which constitutional protections should be applied. Section II.B argues, in the alternative, that the history of the eighth amendment and recent Supreme Court analysis justifies eighth amendment review in even purely civil cases where the government is the party seeking forfeiture. Finally, Part III engages each of the narrowing processes. First, the substantial connection cases denying forfeiture are harmonized by development of a second-degree facilitation test. Second, this Part identifies the seeds of eighth amendment values in the substantial connection cases. Section III.C suggests the circumstances in and the methods by which courts should apply eighth amendment review to section 881 forfeiture. Applying these eighth amendment principles will protect the rights of claimants without impeding the effort to curtail drug trafficking

Supervising Discrimination: Reflections of the Interstate Commerce Act in the Broadband Debate

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Sexualpädagogik

Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Relevanz der Sexualpädagogik in der Sozialpädagogik. Die Sexualpädagogik als eigenständige Disziplin ist erst seit kurzem anerkannt. Obwohl es mittlerweile auch Ausbildungen zum Sexualpädagogen gibt, wird der Beruf an sich nicht als solcher angesehen. In der sozialpädagogischen Ausbildung und auch später, in der sozialpädagogischen Arbeit, wird dem Thema Sexualität wenig Beachtung geschenkt. Dabei stellt es ein wichtiges Gebiet dar, und eine Auseinandersetzung damit ist in der Praxis unumgänglich. Mithilfe eines Fragebogens sollte herausgefunden werden, ob Auszubildende der berufsbegleitenden Kollegs ein eigenes Unterrichtsfach für die Sexualpädagogik für erstrebenswert halten. Die Ergebnisse gaben einerseits Aufschluss über die Ansichten der Studierenden zu dieser Fragestellung, andererseits blieben auch Fragen für weiterführende Untersuchungen offen.The present diploma thesis deals with the relevance of the sexual educational theory in the social educational theory. The sexual educational theory as an independent discipline is recognised only recently. Although there are meanwhile also educations to the sexual pedagogue, the occupation is not looked in itself as such. In the socio-pedagogical education, and also later, in the socio-pedagogical work little attention is given to the subject Sexuality. Besides, it shows an important area, and a discussion with it is unavoidable in practice. With the help of a questionnaire should be found out whether trainees of the work accompanying lectures hold own teaching field for the sexual educational theory for worthwhile. The results gave on the one hand explanation about the views of the students to this question; on the other hand, questions stayed also open for continuing investigations

Die Fachkultur des Diplomstudiums Pädagogik an der Universität Wien

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Fachkultur des Diplomstudiums Pädagogik an der Universität Wien beschrieben. Anstoß für das Verfassen dieser Arbeit war die Feststellung, dass Themen der Hochschulsozialisation bisher nur in geringem Maße erforscht wurden. „Fachkultur“ ist ein Begriff aus der Hochschulsozialisationsforschung und meint die vorherrschende Art, wahrzunehmen, zu denken und zu handeln, die Angehörige eines Studienfachs, durch ihre Auseinandersetzung mit dem Studium entwickeln und teilen. Dieses Verständnis von Fachkultur bringt es mit sich, dass bei ihrer Beschreibung sowohl objektive Rahmenbedingungen, wie z.B. der Studienplan berücksichtigt werden müssen, ebenso wie die Einstellungen und Orientierungen, die die Studierenden dieses Faches in Auseinandersetzung mit diesen Rahmenbedingungen entwickeln. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden daher einerseits die objektiven Rahmenbedingungen des Diplomstudiums Pädagogik in Wien nach Aspekten, die theoriegeleitet entwickelt wurden, analysiert. Andererseits wurde eine qualitativ empirische Studie durchgeführt, in der die Studierenden des Diplomstudiums Pädagogik in Wien mittels problemzentrierter Interviews nach Witzel (2000) befragt wurden. Die Fragen der Interviews wurden ebenfalls theoriegeleitet entwickelt. Ausgewertet wurde mittels Themenanalyse nach Froschauer/Lueger (2003). Auf diesem Weg konnten vielfältige Ergebnisse zur Fachkultur des Diplomstudiums Pädagogik an der Universität Wien erbracht werden, sowie die Bedeutung sozialisationstheoretischer Fragestellungen im Bereich der Hochschulbildung im Allgemeinen bestätigt werden.This thesis describes the disciplinary culture of the academic study of education at the University of Vienna. The fact that socialization in college is explored only in minor degree provided the impetus for writing this thesis. „Disciplinary culture“ is a term from the research that explores socialization in college and means the kind of percipience, thinking and acting that dependants of one academic study develop and share in examination of their study. This comprehension of disciplinary culture shows the necessity of describing general conditions, as e.g. the curriculum as well as the individual mental attitudes and orientations of the students. Therefore this thesis contains on one hand the analysis of general conditions as the curriculum, on the other hand a qualitative research of the mental attitudes and orientations of the students. These data were generated trough problem-centred interviews by Witzel (2000), and analyzed through analysis of themes by Froschauer/Lueger (2003). As a result many aspects from the disciplinary culture of the academic study of education at the University of Vienna could be identified. Moreover the importance of research that explores socialization in college could be approved