Program on International Communications Regulation & Policy

Semester Courses

ACADEMIC COURSE 2019-20:

Not-for-credit course is offered during the current academic year 2019-20.

Previous Semester Courses

Spring 2017:

International Communications: Regulation & Policy (LAW-795CP-001)

The International Communications Regulation and Policy course is meant to provide students with employable skills in the realm of communications policy and regulation. This course will provide students with an introduction to International Communications Regulation and Policy with a focus on Information Communications Technologies (ICTs). The course is divided into three parts. The first part will set the scene by examining the historical evolution of ICTs through the present; the principal international and national players involved in the regulation of ICT services; and the technologies involved in the provision of ICT services. The second part will consider the main legal and regulatory aspects relating to the provision of ICTs, including conceptual models for regulatory oversight; licensing and allocation of scarce resources; competition and interconnection; and the advancement of public interest objectives, such as universal service. The third part will address a number of current issues affecting ICTs, including cybersecurity; cyber-bullying; trans-border data flows; net neutrality; national security and law enforcement interests; data protection and safe harbors; and privacy, including the emerging right to be forgotten.

2 credits

Meets Mondays 4:00pm-5:50pm

Meet Your Professor

Maury Mechanick

Maury Mechanick has over 30 years of experience in the field of international telecommunications. Since 2002, he has held the position of Counsel in the Washington, DC office of White & Case LLP. His practice focuses on representing public and private sector clients in the satellite and telecommunications fields in transactional and regulatory matters in the United States and abroad. In this capacity, he has also served as the external legal advisor to ITSO since 2002.

Prior to joining White & Case, Mr. Mechanick was a senior executive for nearly twenty years with COMSAT Corporation and later Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, where he led U.S. efforts resulting in the privatization of the INTELSAT and Inmarsat intergovernmental satellite organizations and the creation of New Skies Satellites, NV, as an INTELSAT spin-off company.

Mr. Mechanick served as the U.S. Governor to INTELSAT from 1995 to 2001 and as Chairman of the INTELSAT Board of Governors during the pivotal year leading up to that organization’s privatization. Mr. Mechanick is a long-standing board member of the Society of Satellite Professionals International, and previously served as the President and Chairman of that organization and is a member of the prestigious International Institute of Space Law. Mr. Mechanick has also served as the external pro bono legal advisor to the Washington Space Business Roundtable.

Mr. Mechanick received a BSFS degree (Foreign Service) from Georgetown University in 1973 and a JD degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.