Spring Term 2000 Examination Free Speech, Telecommunications and Cyberspace

       
   

Harvard Law School

Spring Term 2000 Examination

Free Speech, Telecommunications and Cyberspace

May, 2000

(Self-Scheduled– Twenty Four Hours)

 

Professor Balkin

Instructions

1. This examination consists of two essay questions. Your answers to the two questions combined should total no more than 6,000 words.

2. Please read each question carefully and pay attention to what you are being asked to do.

3. If anything about a question is ambiguous, decide what you think is meant, tell me what you think is meant, and answer the question accordingly. No reasonable resolution of an ambiguity will be penalized. If you need to assume additional facts in order to answer a question, state what those facts are and how they affect your answer.

4. I strongly prefer that you type your exam. If you use blue books, write clearly, and skip every other line.

5. Think before you write. Organize your answer. You get extra points for clarity and succinctness. You get penalized for an answer which is disorganized and confusing.

6. This exam is open book.

7. Good luck.

Question One

(Two Thirds)

We have discussed five different justifications for telecommunications regulation in this course.

  1. scarcity

  2. government as speaker
  3. common carriage
  4. government contract with speaker
  5. speaker as bottleneck/essential facility/natural monopoly

A. What are the strengths and weakness of these theories as models of regulation for broadcasting (both analog and digital), cable, and direct broadcast satellite? What are the criteria on which you base your judgment? Is any single theory adequate to justify regulation of all of these media?

B. Which model is most consistent with Turner I and Turner II? Do any of these models of regulation justify content based regulations of speech, and if so, what kinds do they justify? Give examples based on the materials studied in the course.

C. Which model would best justify the government’s requirement of five hours of educational programming per week on each digital television channel?

D. Which model would best justify the government’s requirement of five hours of local programming per week on each digital television channel?

E. Which model would best justify the government’s ability to add additional public interest requirements on digital television stations when the station license comes up for renewal?

Question Two

(One Third)

A. Would it be constitutional for the U.S. government to require all websites on servers located in the United States to rate their sites using the RSACi system? (details of the system can be found in the course readings and also at http://www.icra.org/about.html).

B. Would it be constitutional for the U.S. government to require all websites on servers located in the United States to rate their sites using the RSACi rating system if they use any rating system at all? (Compare the existing provisions for the V-Chip. Is there any important constitutional difference here?).

C. Would it be constitutional for the U.S. government to offer a $500 tax credit for all operators of websites on servers located in the United States who rate their sites using the RSACi system?

END OF EXAMINATION