Digital Crossroads : American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age

With a new preface for the paperback editionTelecommunications policy profoundlyaffects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet accounts of important telecommunications issues tendto be either superficial (and inaccurate) or mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In DigitalCrossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysisof competition policy issues in the telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overviewof the field, they present sharply reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legaldevelopments confronting communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.Since the passageof the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existingregulatory scheme, no book has cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competitionpolicy in the Internet age for general readers, students, and practitioners alike. DigitalCrossroads meets this need, focusing on the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline andwireless telephone service; competition among rival platforms for broadband Internet service andvideo distribution; and the Internet's transformation of every aspect of the telecommunicationsindustry, particularly through the emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authorsexplain not just the complicated legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changingtechnological and economic context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotesand tables that cover relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary ofacronyms; a statutory addendum containing the most important provisions of federaltelecommunications law; and two appendixes with information on more specialized topics.Supplementary materials for students are available athttp://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.

Philip J. Weiser is Associate Professor of Law and Telecommunications at the University of Colorado and Executive Director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program. He was principal telecommunications adviser to former Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein during the Clinton administration and previously served as law clerk for US Supreme Court Justices Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.