Guides: Communications Law Research Guide: Secondary Sources

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Communications Law Practice Center (Lexis)
Tech & Telecom Practice Center (Bloomberg Law)
Includes legal news, practical guidance, primary sources, legal analysis, regulatory materials, BNA portfolios, and more. Includes the following Practice Areas: Communications Law, Data Privacy & Security Law, Tech & Internet Law, Media Law

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Select Treatises, Books, & Study Aids

The following is a select list of texts & treatises on issues of privacy law. There are many others; to find more, try searching the library's catalog (see below) or browsing a treatise collection on a research platform like Lexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law. You might also want to check our Communications Law Treatise Finder.

Mass Communication Law in a Nutshell
Call Number: KF2750.Z9 Z8 2020
Publication Date: 2020 (8th ed.)
Brief introduction to federal telecommunications and media law, intended for law students.
Modern Communication Law by Harvey L. Zuckman et al.
Call Number: KF2760.A7 L583 1999
Offers an analysis of the intricate laws and policies relating to new media, the Internet, Direct Broadcasting Satellite, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It also examines the key constitutional, statutory, and administrative provisions governing communications in the United States. Kept up-to-date with pocket parts to 2007.
Digital Crossroads, Second Edition by Jonathan E. Nuechterlein; Philip J. Weiser
Call Number: HE7781 .N84 2013
ISBN: 9780262519601
Publication Date: 2013-07-05
A thoroughly updated, comprehensive, and accessible guide to U.S. telecommunications law and policy, covering recent developments including mobile broadband issues, spectrum policy, and net neutrality.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.
Electronic Media Law and Regulation (2014) by Kenneth C. Creech
Call Number: KF2805 .C74
Gives an overview of the major legal and regulatory issues facing broadcasting, cable, and developing media.
Federal Telecommunications Law by Peter Huber et al
Call Number: KF2765 .K45 2011
Covers FCC rule-making and other powers, interconnection rules, universal service, data services, antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, free speech, and other issues related to telecommunications. Supplemented annually.
Telecommunications Regulation: Cable, Broadcasting, Satellite, and the Internet
One of the most comprehensive treatises available on local, state, and federal regulation of telecommunications. Updated twice a year.
Communications Law & Practice
Provides clear explanations of the laws regulating telephony, including cellular telephone advances; radio and television broadcasting; and wireless communications and communications satellites. (Formerly known as Cable Television
Law.)
Internet and Online Law by Kent D. Stuckey
Includes coverage of: negotiating enforceable contracts and licenses; identifying legal and business issues in electronic commerce; limiting liability for online defamation and factual misstatements; avoiding criminal obscenity or indecency charges; complying with government regulations affecting Internet and online services; and special aspects of procedure, jurisdiction and other litigation issues. The book also discusses: the fundamental principles of the Copyright Act and the Patent Act relevant to online technology; regulatory and congressional reports on Internet telephony, universal service and access charges; privacy and encryption issues; and the impact of the Internet and other electronic means of communication on the obligations of issuers and other parties under securities laws. Contract issues explored include: application of common law; the U.C.C.; the Statute of Frauds; parol evidence; and electronic and 'shrinkwrap' agreements. Also covered are electronic signatures and authentication, trademark protection and domain names, legal consequences of owning a Web page or hosting a message board, and the value of warnings and disclaimers. Also available in print.
Rights & Liabilities in Media Content: Internet, Broadcast, & Print
Intended as a one-stop resource for planning, litigation, and First Amendment issues across the media spectrum - print, broadcast, and the Internet. It discusses legal rights and liabilities affecting content, advertising, commercial speech, libel, and intellectual property.
Media, Advertising, & Entertainment Law Throughout the World
Provides a concise and current overview of media, advertising, entertainment, and art law in more than 30 countries.
Federal Telecommunications Law (CCH)
CCH Federal Telecommunications Law (Second Edition) is a treatise providing comprehensive coverage of federal laws governing the telecommunications industry, including the 1996 Telecommunications Act, jurisdiction, antitrust, interconnection, universal service and mergers and acquisitions.
Law of Computer Technology by Raymond T. Nimmer
Provides clear, current analysis of the rights, contracts, licenses, and liabilities associated with computer technology. Also available in print.
Law of the Internet (CCH)
A comprehensive overview of the Internet, discussion of its current applications, and thoughtful analysis of recent trends.
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech
Publication Date: 2012
This publication provides both non-attorneys (law students, clients, academics) and attorneys with a focused and coherent review of the evolution of free speech rights in the United States.
Internet Law & Practice
Addresses practical and conceptual ramifications and legal issues of electronic communication, including commercial transactions, contracts, communications, the First Amendment, and copyrights.
Digital Communications Law by Henry H. Perritt, Jr.
Publication Date: 2018-
Digital Communications Law (Revised Edition of former Law and the Information Superhighway) is a complete compendium that covers all the various laws that affect sales and communications on the Web, including: taxation, privacy, intellectual property, civil litigation, criminal prosecution, constitutional considerations and cross-border commerce. Digital Communications Law keeps current with the laws that arise out of and affect new developments, including disputes and liability connected with texting, Tweeting, Facebook and other social networking sites, net neutrality, consumer fraud and accessibility of public information.

Finding Additional Items

To find more items in our catalog on the topic of Communications Law, try searching by subject using some of the following headings:

Academic Journals & Journal Databases

Law Journal Databases

Westlaw and Lexis each include the full text for approximately 500 law reviews and journals. Coverage varies by journal, but in general they include articles starting from the late 1980s/early 1990s:
- Westlaw Law Reviews & Journals
- Lexis Law Reviews & Journals
LegalTrac
Index of approximately 1,300 journals; coverage begins in 1980.
Index To Legal Periodicals and Books
Index of approximately 1,000 journals (with some full text); coverage begins in 1982.
- Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Retrospective
  Index of approximately 750 journals; coverage from 1908 to 1981.
HeinOnline Law Journal Library
Includes more than 3,100 law and law-related periodicals featuring subjects such as criminal justice, political science, technology, human rights, and more. Coverage for all journals is from inception and goes through the most currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.
Hein Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
Includes records from 1985 to date. To access the material from 1960-1984, please browse/search the print edition (KF8 .I35).
HeinOnline Bar Journal Library
Includes approximately 500 law reviews and journals from the inception date of the publication to present (about a year behind).

Communications/Computer Journal Databases

View our databases that cover Communications Law materials. This includes some of the following:

ACM Digital Library
Offers access to books, journal articles, theses, and proceedings of the Association of Computer Machinery.
Communication Abstracts
Covers communication-related articles, reports, papers, and books from a variety of publishers, research institutions, and information sources on a world-wide scale. Coverage includes not only communication literature but also literature in other disciplines that is relevant to communication researchers, such as international literature in film studies, the role of technology in human communications, risk communication, crisis communication and public opinions.
Communication & Mass Media Complete
This database provides full-text access to about 200 journals in the area of communication and mass media, as well as citation coverage for additional sources.
IEEE Xplore
This database includes over 100 telecommunications industry publications, such as magazines, journals, and newsletters for electrical and electronics engineers. Subjects include internet, artificial intelligence, IoT and cybersecurity.
ProQuest Telecommunications
This database includes over 100 telecommunications industry publications, such as magazines, journals, and newsletters for this industry.

Multidisciplinary Databases

ABI/Inform Complete
Abstracts and some full-text articles from over 2,800 business and management publications. Covers finance, management, marketing, accounting, business conditions and other business topics.
Academic Search Premier
Full text of journal articles from nearly 1,560 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals.
ProQuest Research Library
ProQuest Research Library includes more than 3,700 titles -- over 2,500 in full text. It features a diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers.

News & Current Awareness

It is crucial when practicing or researching in heavily regulated areas of law such as communications to keep on top of new developments. You can also use legal news and current awareness sources to help find topics for scholarly research or journal notes. Also refer to the Professional Associations, Organizations, and Institutes page of this guide.

A few of the tools available for doing so are listed below.

Media Law Reporter (BNA ) publishes U.S. Supreme Court and selected state and lower federal court decisions on all aspects of media law, including First Amendment, broadcast and cable regulation, and entertainment law.
Electronic Commerce and Law Report (BNA)
This weekly newsletter, covering legal developments and trends in the major legal issues surrounding digital communications -- contents, transactions, and infrastructure -- on federal, state, and international levels, was discontinued in 2018; archive of issues since April 12, 1996 is available on Bloomberg Law. Coverage continued in Tech & Telecom Law News.
Privacy & Data Security Law News (Bloomberg Law)
Covers developments in worldwide privacy law. Published monthly.
The FCC Daily Digest provides a brief synopsis of Commission orders, news releases, speeches, public notices and all other FCC documents that are released each business day.
- Daily Digest on EDOCS (FCC website)
- Lexis: FCC Daily Digest (from August 3, 1989)
- Westlaw: Federal Communications Commissions Decisions & Guidance (from 1965; includes the FCC Daily Digest, the FCC Reports or the FCC Record); FCC News (from January 1994; includes press releases, transcripts, reports, notices & regulations)
Headlines (on the FCC website) is the best source for up-to-the-minute status and links to the latest and highest profile items at the Commission, and for other important notices.
Communications Daily (daily newsletter covering telecommunications, broadcasting, cable televisions, and the electronic media)
- Lexis: Communications Daily (Jan 1984- )
- Westlaw: Communications Daily (1991- )
ABA Blawg Directory: Media & Communications Law: The ABA maintains comprehensive directory of more than 4,500 continually updated law blogs. This links to those categorized under the "Media & Communications Law" topic.
Tech & Telecom Practice Center (Bloomberg Law)
Includes legal news and analysis in addition to practical guidance, primary sources, regulatory materials, BNA portfolios, and more. Includes the following Practice Areas: Communications Law, Data Privacy & Security Law, Tech & Internet Law, Media Law.

Dictionaries & Glossaries

Newton's telecom dictionary : covering telecommunications, networking, information technology, the internet, fiber optics, RFID, wireless, VoIP
Call Number: Reference TK5102 .N48 2005
Publication Date: 2005
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions Telecom Glossary
ATIS develops standards and solutions addressing a wide range of industry issues in a manner that allocates and coordinates industry resources and produces the greatest return for communications companies. It is accredited by the American National Standards Institute.

Communications Law Research Guide

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