telecommunications – Overlawyered

Crow for them, Pai for us: American Internet policies outpace Europe’s in the crisis

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:01:45 +0000

As demand for videoconferencing and other online services soars in the pandemic emergency, European policymakers “are now eating crow and entreating video platforms to downgrade the quality of their streams, an about face from the regulatory dogma that ‘all data is equal'” You mean net neutrality wasn’t all it was cracked up to be? On dubious European concepts of data privacy, meanwhile: “The GDPR’s forced data minimization has dulled the effectiveness and granularity of data from mobile apps, devices, and networks which can help manage quarantine efforts and ideally lessen restrictions in uninfected zones.” [Roslyn Layton, AEI; Stewart Baker on the phone location app used in Singapore’s contact tracing efforts] Related: Alec Stapp thread (greater U.S. investment in broadband). More: Thomas Firey, Cato.

Tags: COVID-19 virus, Federal Communications Commission, privacy, social media, telecommunications

Crow for them, Pai for us: American Internet policies outpace Europe’s in the crisis is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

AT&T Time Warner merger

Walter Olson — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 04:05:46 +0000

My new piece at CNN begins by noting that antitrust law has moved on since the Truman era, even if the U.S. Department of Justice hasn’t quite:

In 1948 the US Supreme Court ordered Hollywood studios to sell their movie theaters, following the then-popular idea that the government should police marketplace competition by restraining businesses’ vertical integration — or as we might put it these days, by ordering content kept separate from distribution.

The surprise in 2018 is not so much that US District Judge Richard Leon rejected the government’s challenge to the $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger. That much was expected by most antitrust watchers. The shock came from the stinging way he rejected the government’s evidence — using language such as “gossamer thin” and “poppycock.”

CNN, of course, is owned by merger participant Time Warner. The question is not whether vertical integration will happen in video delivery, but whether older companies will be allowed to catch up. For Washington to block a merger like this, I suggest, “would be as futile as attempting to separate Net from Flix or You from Tube.”

Tags: antitrust, broadcasters, Department of Justice, movies film and videos, telecommunications

AT&T Time Warner merger is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Safety recall? Put down that phone

Walter Olson — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 18:04:54 +0000

Honda called car owners to warn about dangerous Takata airbags. Its reward was to get sued by a class action lawyer over unsolicited calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) [U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform]

Tags: telecommunications

Safety recall? Put down that phone is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Justice Scalia’s Telecommunications Legacy”

Walter Olson — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 19:05:22 +0000

Antonin Scalia’s work on telecommunications deregulation before he became a judge is not one of the more widely known parts of his career, but as director of a White House office on telecom policy in the 1970s he played a key role in promoting removal of old legal barriers to competition and innovation, which in turn laid the groundwork for the emergence of modern online data, voice, and entertainment delivery. This panel discussion at the Federalist Society Lawyers National Convention features Henry Goldberg, Richard Wiley, and Prof. Richard Epstein, with Texas Justice Don Willett moderating. At the very end of the Q&A period I ask a question from the audience, resulting in an exchange with Richard Epstein in which we reminisce about Scalia’s time as editor of Regulation magazine.

Tags: Antonin Scalia, live in person, telecommunications

“Justice Scalia’s Telecommunications Legacy” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 05:05:57 +0000

“How to write an overlawyered email, in 4 easy steps!” [Inspired Law Blog]
Fifth Circuit upholds conviction of Texas lawyer Marc Rosenthal over pattern of fraud including but not limited to suborning of false witness testimony;
Emoticons/emojis begin arriving in court as evidence, a federal judge in Michigan having already been “asked to rule on the meaning of ‘:-P.'” [Amanda Hess, Slate]
Disabled access regulations as hobble-thy-competitor method: “AT&T says T-Mobile and Sprint Wi-Fi calling violates disability rules” [ArsTechnica]
From back in 2012, but missed: a law professor’s book assails fine print in contracts, and Scott Greenfield responds;
So strange how many expert witnesses say they have no idea how much they make [Brendan Kenny, Lawyerist]
Get those troops out of my house: “A symposium on the oft-neglected Third Amendment” [Ilya Somin]

Tags: contracts of adhesion, disabled rights, expert witnesses, fraud, telecommunications

November 4 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The liability limit that created the modern online economy

Walter Olson — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 04:15:46 +0000

A tribute to Section 230: “No other sentence in the U.S. Code, I would assert, has been responsible for the creation of more value than that one; if you have other candidates for that honor you think more worthy, please do share them.” — David Post on the fateful, intermediary-immunizing “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” This bar to liability, Post writes, helped make possible “virtually every successful online venture that emerged after 1996 — including all the usual suspects, viz. Google, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, Craigslist, YouTube, Instagram, eBay, Amazon.”

Tags: Craigslist, eBay, Facebook, Google, social media, telecommunications, Twitter, YouTube

The liability limit that created the modern online economy is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New York “Annoyance Lawyer” sues Uber

Walter Olson — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 13:56:28 +0000

New York attorney Todd C. Bank “sued Uber Technologies Inc. over its robocall campaign attacking New York Mayor Bill de Blasio over his proposal to limit the number of drivers.” Mr. Bank bills himself as the “Annoyance Lawyer.” Isn’t that term generic by now? [Bloomberg]

Tags: lawyers, NYC, taxis and ridesharing, telecommunications

New York “Annoyance Lawyer” sues Uber is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

TCPA logic fail — and an ironic target

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 05:15:15 +0000

Lawyers continue to craft class actions (here, here, etc.) demanding hundreds of millions or billions of dollars from businesses over what are often inadvertent or gray-area violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which bans unsolicited phone communication. Consumerist Ellen Taverna of NACA, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, finds talk of abuse “ridiculous” since at the same time phone users continue to report a large volume of (often patently unlawful and TCPA-flouting) call activity. Because how could there simultaneously be the one and the other? [Alison Frankel, Reuters] Unrelatedly, class actions over TCPA have found an especially ironic target: “The American Association of Justice, the national trade association that lobbies on behalf of plaintiffs’ lawyers seeking new ways to sue, itself got sued under the TCPA – by some of its own members. The AAJ was named in a class action lawsuit related to a blast fax sent to its members by a third-party vendor.” [Bryan Quigley, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform]

Tags: AAJ, statutory damages, telecommunications

TCPA logic fail — and an ironic target is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Buffalo Bills to pay nominal $3 million for sending text messages

Walter Olson — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:15:10 +0000

“The Buffalo Bills have agreed to pay up to $3 million – largely in the form of debit cards redeemable only at the team store – to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the team of sending too many alerts to fans who signed up for a text-messaging service.” Plaintiff Jerry Wojcik contended “that the team violated the terms of its text service by sending him 13 messages over two weeks when it promised to send no more than five per week. … He claimed in his suit that the extra texts violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and he sought statutory damages of $500 per excessive message for negligent violations and up to $1,500 per message for willful violations.” His lawyers will pocket $562,500. [Buffalo News]

Tags: Buffalo, football, statutory damages, telecommunications

Buffalo Bills to pay nominal $3 million for sending text messages is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 04:05:40 +0000

Claimed prison guard punched him in face: “Man convicted in Chicago-area mass murder awarded $500,000” [WHAS, ABA Journal]
Ken White “immediately repulsed and enraged” by Mayer-Brown-repped suit seeking removal of Glendale, Calif. “comfort women” memorial [Popehat]
“Las Vegas: Man Sues Casino After $500k Loss ‘While Drunk'” [Sky News]
Regulators blame everyone but selves: “Drug Shortages Continue to Vex Doctors” [Sabrina Tavernese, NYT on GAO report, earlier here, here, etc., etc.]
Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli to speak tomorrow on “dereliction of duty” of AGs who decline to defend laws deemed unconstitutional, hope someone brings up this and this [more background; and his successor Mark Herring’s view]
Oregon: “Portland State University will pay $161,500 to settle a lawsuit claiming it discriminated against disabled students who have service animals.” [AP/KOIN] Laws make it dangerous for business owners to draw line between legitimate, fake service dogs [L.A. Times]
Not The Onion: Canada telecoms regulator pushes XX cable channels to run more Canadian content [CBC, National Post]

Tags: compulsive gambling, Oregon, pharmaceuticals, prisoners, service animals, telecommunications, Virginia

March 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system