College of Communications

This study stems from the concerns that college students are more exposed to copyright enforcement, including the graduated response policy and pre-litigation settlement, than other categories of users due to the current digital copyright enforcement system. Many universities in the United States, in practice, use graduated response schemes and are able to effectively control copyright infringing activities of their students by blocking their access to the university network after several warnings. Since college students heavily rely on the Internet network provided by their universities, the termination of Internet access could result in serious impediments to their academic and social activities, as well as restricting their freedom of expression. For these reasons, this study identifies problems of the enforcement of the graduated response policy by the public universities in the U. S. The main problem of the graduated response policy is the lack of means that can prevent and remedy false accusations of copyright infringement. The universities should provide substantial protection for their students who were falsely accused and have power to stop the proceeding against the unreasonably accused students.

Major cable operators strive to reach out for wireless consumers by providing "Cable WiFi" in metropolitan areas. Although Cable Wi-Fi could make significant contributions to Wi-Fi network expansion, a part of its business model, called “home hotspot,” deserves searching scrutiny and analysis before it becomes a universal practice. Therefore, this study attempted to map out diverse issues that might be raised by Cable Wi-Fi and analyze the developmental phase of Wi-Fi technology based on Debora L. Spar’s four-phase approach proposing a cyclical developmental pattern of new technologies. Wi-Fi has reached the phase of creative anarchy, which is characterized by many problems and issues related to service availability, quality of service, network security, sustainability of the business model, consumer protection and wireless competition. These issues necessitate government actions, as well as private solutions, to harmonize consumer, corporate and public interests.

Depictions of sports by professional journalists working for U.S. media institutions have generally been indicted for reinforcing masculine hegemony and ignoring alternative and women's sports. In this study, a survey of 200 independent sports bloggers was used to explore how the sports blogosphere might provide alternatives to depictions of sports offered through mainstream, traditional coverage. Survey results suggest that the sports blogosphere will not become a truly alternative, egalitarian space for sports commentary without more participation from female bloggers who are willing to cover female athletes and advocate for women's sports. Otherwise, the sports blogosphere will simply replicate old-media values.