by Kurt E. DeSoto

Finished the bestsellers you brought along with you on your summer vacation to the beach and now need some “heavier” reading? Want to find out what is going on in the industry or at the FCC? Fortunately, you don’t need to find the nearest communications company or law firm that subscribes to the Telecommunications Reports or the FCC’s Daily Digest. There is an overwhelming amount of communications-related information accessible via the World Wide Web from a terminal at the local Internet café or over your laptop’s modem connection. Bonus: these same materials are accessible from your desktop PC back at the office when you return from vacation.

Of course, the first place to start is at the FCC’s own extensive and well-organized website, located at http://www.fcc.gov. In fact, the site has become a model for other federal agency sites. It provides access to electronic copies of FCC daily digests, decisions and other materials in a variety of software formats that may be displayed or downloaded and printed without charge. As most practitioners are familiar with the FCC’s site, however, this article will focus on non-FCC websites.

Resource Portals:

The “granddaddy” portal for communications sites is located at http://china.si.umich.edu/telecom/. This site offers over 7,000 hypertext links to telecommunications resources on the Internet. A sampling of the table of contents includes such topic links as: Telecom News and Headlines; Telecommunications Policy and Regulation; Global Information Infrastructure; Telecom Operating Companies; Internet Telephony; Broadcasters; and Associations, Nonprofits: Foundations and Professional, Trade and Interest Groups.

LawSource, Inc., and Law Research maintain portals designed specifically for legal research. These sites provide a compilation of links to sources of U.S. (including both federal and state law) and selected international law. LawSource’s American Law Sources Online (ALSO!) is located at www.lawsource.com/also and Law Research’s site appears at www.lawresearch.com/home.htm.

Portals for state resources are available at www.naruc.org/resources/state.shtml (state public utility commission websites listed by NARUC) and www.statescape.com/Resources/Resources.asp (links to state legislative homepages).

Primary Sources:

A number of non-FCC sites post the written decisions, rules and laws of the FCC, the courts, and Congress. Some offer these at no charge (primarily government sites). Others are subscription-based and impose monthly fees, per search fees, or both. Fee-based sites are generally more comprehensive, however, or offer helpful additional features or functions. Moreover, some post materials before they are available on free websites or when the free sites are inaccessible or experiencing problems.

Subscription-Free Sites: The FCC’s regulations are available online from the U.S. Government Printing Office at www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html. The GPO also posts the Federal Register, at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html.

Cornell University maintains a website on various aspects of the laws, decisions and regulations that affect Title 47 of the United States Code and Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations governing communications. The materials are located at www.law.cornell.edu. The site is searchable by title and section or keyword.

Several Internet sites offer hypertext links to the texts of court decisions and other materials. Some also specialize in providing summaries and analyses of key decisions and pending cases. These include:

- www.law.cornell.edu/topics/communications.html (selected Supreme Court and Appeals Court communications case summaries and opinions hosted by the Legal Information Institute)

- www.uscourts.gov/allinks.html# (links to Federal Courts and decisions by Circuit and District)

- www.findlaw.com/casecode, www.lawsource.com/also and www.nlj.com/special/courts.html (general judicial decisions and legislative materials)

The Senate and House Commerce Committees host sites containing links to bills, GAO reports and other legislative information relating to communications. These sites, respectively, are: www.senate.gov/~commerce/ and com-notes.house.gov/. The Library of Congress hosts a site with links to federal legislative materials generally, such as bills, House and Senate Committee reports, and Congressional calendars and schedules. The site can be found at thomas.loc.gov/.

Subscription-Based Sites: Most practitioners are familiar with the services offered by LexisNexis (www.lexis-nexis.com), WestGroup (www.westgroup.com) and perhaps TheLaw.net (www.thelaw.net), so this article will not describe them here. But did you know there are a number of other sites that focus on specific communications materials? Pike & Fischer, Inc. (www.pf.com), facilitates access to the FCC’s decisions as well as annotated versions of related regulatory and statutory materials via the Internet or through compact discs mailed to its subscribers. Berry Best Services, Ltd., obtains “official” paper copies of the FCC’s daily releases and converts them to Adobe Acrobat PDF format for delivery via its website at www.berrybest.com. A complete description of Berry Best’s services is posted at www.fcba.org/extra7.shtml.

Several subscription-based sites provide web-based access to the service rates, terms, and conditions of selected telecommunications companies. Although these sites charge a fee, they provide access to substantially more materials than does the FCC’s Electronic Tariff Filing System (ETFS) located at svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ccb/etfs. They also offer subscribers the ability to conduct keyword and other types of searches. The URLs for two of these sites are www.tariffnet.com, hosted by the Valucom, Inc., and www.ccmi.com hosted by the Center for Communications Management Information (CCMI). A complete description of these sites is available at www.fcba.org/extra2.shtml.

Other companies offer online access to FCC licensing and engineering records. These include Percon Corporation (www.perconcorp.com) and Washington Radio Reports (www.wrronline.com). A description of these sites is posted at www.fcba.org/extra1.shtm.

Industry Publications:

Many publishers and news services offer online versions or excerpts of their printed materials. For example, The Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington and the Federal Communications Bar Association jointly publish The Federal Communications Law Journal. All issues dating back to Volume 46 (1993-94) are available online and are keyword searchable. The URL is www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/volsplash.shtml/. Many other entities publish exclusively or primarily on the Internet, such as CNET (www.cnet.com) and Ziff Davis Publishing (www.zdnet.com). News specifically focused on the state level is available at <www.statesnews.org/, hosted by the Council of State and Local Governments.

Of course, the major newspapers regularly print stories on communications-related matters, and many have online versions of their publications. A comprehensive list of links to more than 3,500 newspapers posted online is located at <www.newslink.org/news.html. An alternate site is www.statescape.com/Resources/Resources.asp.

A variety of law firms, consultants, and associations host websites that contain extensive communications-related information. For example, my firm (like many others) maintains a website at www.wrf.com containing copies of articles, newsletters and notable pleadings available for review or download. Check with your consultants to determine whether they maintain similar sites. A hypertext linked list of communications associations and entities that publish communications-related articles and materials appears at www.lawresearch.com/practice/ctele.htm.

There are also a number of entities that will deliver publications via email. For example, the National Exchange Carrier Association’s Washington Watch, available on its website at www.neca.org, will be emailed upon request. Telecommunications Reports International emails its e-Law Online Monitor to subscribers. Information on TR’s service is available on its website www.tr.com.

So sit back and relax this summer. Enjoy the beach or the mountains. Enjoy Brad Meltzer’s The First Counsel or David Baldacci’s The Last Man Standing. Then enjoy the links.

Note: Part 2 of this article is available at http://www.fcba.org/includes/news_items/news_items_more.php?section_id=1&id=8

______________________________________________________________________ Mr. DeSoto is an attorney at the law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP. He practices in the areas of wireless and wireline telecommunications, telephone company ratemaking, and equipment authorization. He previously worked in the FCC's Common Carrier Bureau. 8/2002


« Back to Index