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TOTM Pai’s tenure at the FCC was marked by an abiding appreciation for the importance of competition, both as a guiding principle for new regulations and as a touchstone to determine when to challenge existing ones. Perhaps his greatest contribution to bringing competition to the forefront of the FCC’s mandate came in his work on media modernization.
I’m delighted to add my comments to the chorus of voices honoring Ajit Pai’s remarkable tenure at the Federal Communications Commission. I’ve known Ajit longer than most. We were classmates in law school … let’s just say “many” years ago. Among the other symposium contributors I know of only one—fellow classmate, Tom Nachbar—who can make a similar claim. I wish I could say this gives me special insight into his motivations, his actions, and the significance of his accomplishments, but really it means only that I have endured his dad jokes and interminable pop-culture references longer than most.
Read the full piece here.
TOTM Ajit Pai has been, in my view, the most successful, impactful minority commissioner in the history of the modern regulatory state. And it is that success that has led him to become the most successful and impactful chairman, too.
Much of this symposium celebrates Ajit’s contributions as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and his accomplishments and leadership in that role. And rightly so. But Commissioner Pai, not just Chairman Pai, should also be recognized.
TOTM The technical and business challenges of connecting rural America are different. Rural America needs different things out of its infrastructure than urban America. And the attitudes of both users and those providing service are different here than they are in urban America. Aji Pai gets this.
I was having a conversation recently with a fellow denizen of rural America, discussing how to create opportunities for academics studying the digital divide to get on-the-ground experience with the realities of rural telecommunications. He recounted a story from a telecom policy event in Washington, D.C., from not long ago. The story featured a couple of well-known participants in federal telecom policy as they were talking about how to close the rural digital divide. The punchline of the story was loud speculation from someone in attendance that neither of these bloviating telecom experts had likely ever set foot in a rural town.
TOTM Ajit Pai will step down from his position as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effective Jan. 20. Beginning Jan. 15, Truth on the Market will host a symposium exploring Pai’s tenure, with contributions from a range of scholars and practitioners.
Ajit Pai will step down from his position as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effective Jan. 20. Beginning Jan. 15, Truth on the Market will host a symposium exploring Pai’s tenure, with contributions from a range of scholars and practitioners.
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined the Legal Talk Today podcast on an episode titled “Why So Many Robocalls? Why?!” The . . .
ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined the Legal Talk Today podcast on an episode titled “Why So Many Robocalls? Why?!” The full episode can be played below.
If you’re getting persistent calls from seemingly familiar phone numbers at all hours, you’re not alone. Learn why efforts at regulation have so far been inadequate.
Popular Media As the Biden administration and the Senate wrangle over the next nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), they will likely debate the nominee’s . . .
As the Biden administration and the Senate wrangle over the next nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), they will likely debate the nominee’s views on contentious policy issues such as net neutrality and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. But a key element of current Chairman Ajit Pai’s legacy is a commitment to improved rulemaking processes and quality. That commitment is evident in changes to the structure and processes of the FCC made to ensure that quality economic analysis informs policy decisions.
TL;DR Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has come under close scrutiny. Section 230 provides important immunity to online platforms for the content of third-party users.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has come under close scrutiny. Section 230 provides important immunity to online platforms for the content of third-party users. Section 230 also guarantees legal immunity when platforms moderate objectionable content on their services: so-called “good samaritan” immunity.
Reform efforts are aimed at creating more carve-outs to Section 230 immunities, and limiting the scope of content platforms can moderate.
Many of these proposals would make bad policy by creating disincentives to moderate content in order to avoid a flood of litigation.
Read the full explainer here.
TL;DR While there are possible useful reforms to be made to Section 230, forcing major changes to an important law on the basis of a political quarrel would let petty politics reshape one of the most important laws that governs the Internet.
President Trump recently demanded the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) request that the FCC undertake a major reinterpretation of CDA Section 230 to make it more difficult for digital platforms to receive liability immunity for the content of third parties and for their own content moderation decisions. The FCC has granted the petition and is seeking public comment.
The petition is driven by a political dispute between the Administration and the platforms. What’s more, the Administration is evading constitutional restrictions in order to cajole the FCC into serving its ends.
While there are possible useful reforms to be made to Section 230, forcing major changes to an important law on the basis of a political quarrel would let petty politics reshape one of the most important laws that governs the Internet.
Amicus Brief ICLE supports the petition for certiorari filed by the National Association of Broadcasters (“NAB”), et al. seeking this Court’s review of the order issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC.
This proceeding is fast becoming the Jarndyce v. Jarndyce of administrative law. For nearly two decades, a three-judge panel in the Third Circuit has blocked the FCC’s efforts to comply with its statutory obligation under the 1996 Act to review its media ownership rules periodically and repeal or modify any rules that are no longer necessary because of increased competition in local media markets.
The order in Prometheus IV is the most recent and extreme example of the Third Circuit panel’s improper interference with the FCC’s efforts to comply with this statutory obligation. In it, the panel vacated an FCC order that would have repealed or modified media ownership regulations that even the panel did not dispute are no longer needed to achieve their original purpose of promoting competition, localism, and diversity of viewpoints. See Prometheus IV, 939 F.3d at 584-588 (disputing the FCC’s analysis and conclusions as to female and minority ownership diversity, but not as to promotion of competition, localism or diversity of viewpoints).
The Third Circuit panel instead vacated the FCC’s order because two judges on the panel believed those regulations might serve another, altogether different objective—promoting minority and female ownership—that is nowhere mentioned in either the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., or the 1996 Act. See Prometheus IV, 939 F.3d at 584- 588. In so doing, the panel exceeded the limits of judicial review authorized by the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq., by substituting its judgment for that of the agency to which Congress had expressly delegated authority to determine whether these media ownership regulations were still both necessary and in the public interest, and by placing burdens on the agency beyond those established by Congress.
In overstepping these limits, the Third Circuit panel will further delay the elimination of regulations that are not only no longer necessary, but that are also limiting the ability of local newspapers and broadcasters to compete with increasingly important digital media platforms. These outdated regulations have already contributed to an “extinction-level crisis” in the newspaper industry, and the spread of that crisis to local broadcasters in smaller markets is imminent. Consequently, the panel’s order will cause serious and immediate injury to the public’s First Amendment interest in preserving a strong local free press. See Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1, 28 (1945) (a “free press is indispensable to the workings of our democratic society”) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
