What do you think?
Rate this book
Digital Crossroads: Telecommunications Law and Policy in the Internet Age
In "Digital Crossroads," two experts on telecommunications policy offer a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the regulation of competition in the U.S. telecommunications industry. The first edition of "Digital Crossroads" (MIT Press, 2005) became an essential and uniquely readable guide for policymakers, lawyers, scholars, and students in a fast-moving and complex policy field. In this second edition, the authors have revised every section of every chapter to reflect the evolution in industry structure, technology, and regulatory strategy since 2005.
The book features entirely new discussions of such topics as the explosive development of the mobile broadband ecosystem; incentive auctions and other recent spectrum policy initiatives; the FCC's net neutrality rules; the National Broadband Plan; the declining relevance of the traditional public switched telephone network; and the policy response to online video services and their potential to transform the way Americans watch television. Like its predecessor, this new edition of Digital Crossroads not only helps nonspecialists climb this field's formidable learning curve, but also makes substantive contributions to ongoing policy debates.
The book features entirely new discussions of such topics as the explosive development of the mobile broadband ecosystem; incentive auctions and other recent spectrum policy initiatives; the FCC's net neutrality rules; the National Broadband Plan; the declining relevance of the traditional public switched telephone network; and the policy response to online video services and their potential to transform the way Americans watch television. Like its predecessor, this new edition of Digital Crossroads not only helps nonspecialists climb this field's formidable learning curve, but also makes substantive contributions to ongoing policy debates.
- GenresNonfiction
668 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 5, 2013
8 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 25, 2017
When I understood it, it seemed pretty useful. Sometimes it lost me, though.
There are a lot of details that pile up that the authors expect you to remember.
It might have been helpful to make this resemble a casebook by about 3%: That is, it's easier to remember the details if they set up the stakes and the conflict up front.
"Imagine you're a CLEC and something something something. Who pays? Well, here's the rule/dispute."
There are a lot of details that pile up that the authors expect you to remember.
It might have been helpful to make this resemble a casebook by about 3%: That is, it's easier to remember the details if they set up the stakes and the conflict up front.
"Imagine you're a CLEC and something something something. Who pays? Well, here's the rule/dispute."
July 8, 2016
Some of the policy questions raised in this book have seen new developments in the short time since it was published. The book's discussion on net neutrality ends before the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order, for example. Even so, you couldn't ask for a better overview of telecommunications history and policy than this comprehensive yet accessible volume.
Though the focus is on regulation and its economic effects, Digital Crossroads examines everything from how digital technology works to landmark federal court cases affecting the Internet. Be prepared to re-read many of these passages, as the twists and turns of evolving policies can often get confusing, especially in the chapter on the Universal Service Fund. This is due more to the nature of the policy than any fault of the authors, who take great care to explain each new word and concept.
Though the focus is on regulation and its economic effects, Digital Crossroads examines everything from how digital technology works to landmark federal court cases affecting the Internet. Be prepared to re-read many of these passages, as the twists and turns of evolving policies can often get confusing, especially in the chapter on the Universal Service Fund. This is due more to the nature of the policy than any fault of the authors, who take great care to explain each new word and concept.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews