Author Archive | David Ardia

New UNC Center on Technology Policy

By on April 28, 2022 in Internet

I’m thrilled that UNC is launching a new center focused on technology policy!  The UNC Center on Technology Policy (CTP) will hold its first public event on Friday, April 29, but they have already been working hard — and having an impact — on the conversation about how to regulate online content, with a fantastic policy brief on “Understanding, Enforcement, and Investment: Options and Opportunities for State Regulation of Online Content.”

CTP’s mission is to help craft public policy for a better internet. Utilizing an interdisciplinary academic framework, CTP works to identify knowledge gaps and develop actionable policy frameworks that will enable us to realize the potential benefits of technology while minimizing its harms. By working closely with students and expanding the University’s offerings in technology policy analysis, we seek to cultivate and train the field’s future practitioners.  For more on CTP’s plans, you can read a recent overview of the center in The Well.

The new center is lead by Matt Perault, a professor of the practice at UNC’s School of Information & Library Science (SILS) and a consultant on technology policy issues.  He previously led the Center on Science & Technology Policy at Duke University and was a professor of the practice at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.  Before that, Matt worked at Facebook, where he was a director on the public policy team and the head of the global policy development team.  He covered issues ranging from antitrust to law enforcement to human rights and oversaw the company’s policy work on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Matt holds a law degree from Harvard Law School, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Brown University.

To mark their public launch, CTP will be hosting an event on Zoom at noon on Friday, April 29, about state efforts to regulate platform content.  They have a fantastic lineup of panelists, including Emma Llansó (Center for Democracy & Technology), Wendy Gooditis (VA House of Delegates), Mary-Rose Papandrea (UNC School of Law), and Steve DelBianco (NetChoice).  You can register for the event, which is free and open to the public, here.

The new center, which is based at the SILS, will work closely with UNC’s Center on Information, Technology, and Public Life and the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.  Welcome to the neighborhood, CTP!

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A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

By on April 26, 2022 in Center for Media Law and Policy, First Amendment

Each summer, the Center for Media Law and Policy provides financial support through its summer grants program to UNC law and graduate students taking unpaid or low-paying jobs in the fields of media law or media policy. The comments below are from Isabela Palmieri, a dual degree JD/MA student at the UNC School of Law and UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, who interned at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) in summer 2019 and received one of the Center’s grants:

In the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to work for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. FIRE’s mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates students, faculty, alumni, trustees, and the public about the threats to these rights on our campuses, and provides the means to preserve them.  It was founded in 1999 by University of Pennsylvania professor Alan Charles Kors and Boston civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate.

While there, I researched and drafted memoranda on legal issues regarding free speech and due process in higher education. I also aided the Individual Rights Defense Program (IRDP) team in writing and editing legal correspondence to individual students, professors, and campus groups whose fundamental civil liberties had been violated. As one of my biggest projects, I drafted a model policy for universities that provided a constitutional and viewpoint-neutral process for the allocation of student fees.

The Center’s grant allowed me to spend the summer in Philadelphia and have an enriching experience at FIRE protecting students’ free speech rights.

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2022 Summer Grants for UNC Law and Graduate Students Working in Media Law and Policy

By on April 13, 2022 in Center for Media Law and Policy

summer-job-pictureAre you a Carolina student interested in pursuing a career in media law or policy?  Are you worried that you won’t be able to take that summer job in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, because it’s just too expensive to live there?  Or perhaps you’ll be working remotely from Chapel Hill (or elsewhere) and the job doesn’t pay very much?

Well, the Center for Media Law and Policy is here to help.  The Center’s summer grants program provides funds to UNC law and graduate students taking unpaid or low-paying jobs in the fields of media law or media policy. In past years, UNC students have received a summer grant to support their work at a wide range of organizations, including the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, National Public Radio, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Future of Privacy Forum, Student Press Law Center, Broadway Video Group, Screen Media Ventures, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

Wait, you don’t have a summer job yet?!  Head over to our media law and policy Jobs Center, where you will find dozens of summer (and post-graduate) employment opportunities. You can easily find the perfect job for you by using our advanced search feature to search by location, keyword, or practice area.  Also, try browsing by job type or category for a more expansive look at the jobs listed. Still not sure what you want to do for the summer?  You can read about the summer experiences of your fellow students on the Center’s blog.

Requirements and Information on How to Apply for a Summer Grant

You must be a UNC law student or graduate student to apply. You will need to download the application form and send it directly to us at medialaw [at] unc.edu along with the other supporting material described below. Please put “Summer Grant Application” in the subject. The deadline for applying for a summer grant is April 30, 2022.

Law students who applied through the law school’s Summer Public Interest Grant Program are also eligible for a Center grant. You do not need to apply to the Center separately. Simply check the box on the general application for “Media Law or Policy” under the heading “Substantive Areas Your Summer Employment Will Involve” and you will be automatically considered for Center funds in addition to the law school grant.

Applications will be evaluated based on (a) your demonstrated commitment to working in the areas of media law or policy (this covers a wide range of subjects, including intellectual property law, privacy law, entertainment law, communications law, and First Amendment law), and (b) the quality of your essays (each essay should not be more than 500 words).

Required documents include:

  1. Resume (without grade information)
  2. Offer letter from your employer
  3. Essays (no more than 500 words each) *

* Essay questions:

  • Essay #1: Describe your work responsibilities and how they relate to media law or media policy.
  • Essay #2: Describe your commitment to public service. How have your past interests and work experiences contributed to your proposed summer internship responsibilities?
  • Essay #3: How do you see this summer work experience contributing to your long-term career goals?

Be sure to check out these Tips for Writing a Strong Grant Application. You will be notified of a decision by the end of May.

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Media Law and IP Sessions at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning

By on February 1, 2022 in Center for Media Law and Policy

One of the biggest annual events at the UNC School of Law is the Festival of Legal Learning. This year’s multi-day convocation of legal geekery comprises 28 different continuing legal education (CLE) sessions over four days. For the past few years, the Center for Media Law and Policy has helped with the selection and coordination of sessions that cover Media Law and Intellectual Property subjects.

This year’s festival, which takes place on February 1-4, 2022 will be entirely remote, so you can kick back at home and partake in one of the best CLE programs in the country.  Although the festival is much smaller this year, there are at least 5 sessions that touch on media law and IP topics, ranging from trademark law to a retrospective look at U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term. And the list of speakers is a who’s who of the top media and IP lawyers in the state. You can see a list of these folks and descriptions of their sessions on the law school’s event page.

Here are just a few of the sessions available at the festival this year:

Tuesday, Feb. 1

  • 1:15 PM  –  2:15 PM: Trademark Lessons from the Last Breakfast with Aunt Jemima 

Wednesday, Feb. 2

  • 1:15PM  –  2:15 PM: Federal Privacy Law Developments Highlights Since 2020
  • 2:30 PM  –  3:30 PM: Student-Athlete NIL Market is Open: What Do Attorneys Need to Know?
  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM: U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term

Thursday, Feb. 3

  • 1:15 PM  –  2:15 PM: The State of the News Media

Friday, Feb. 4

  • 3:45 PM  –  4:45 PM: A View from the Bench: Reflections of a New Federal District Court Judge (with Judge Richard Myers)

You will not want to miss the session on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term, which includes Adam Liptak from the New York Times; Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at the UNC School of Law; Andy Hessick, Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law; Osamudia James, Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law; and Alli Larsen, Professor of Law and Director, Institute of the Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School.

To register for the Festival, please visit their registration page.

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Amanda Reid Joins Media Law Center as New Faculty Co-Director

By on September 21, 2021 in Center for Media Law and Policy

I’m thrilled to announce that Amanda Reid has joined the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy as faculty co-director of the Center.  Amanda is an associate professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and holds a secondary appointment at the UNC School of Law. She is replacing Tori Ekstrand, who served as the Center’s faculty co-director from 2018-2020. Tori has moved into a new role as the Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Amanda’s research is anchored around the First Amendment. She analyzes the freedoms and limitations imposed on meaning-making processes, including how substantive laws and procedural rules impact—both positively and negatively—our ability to encode and decode meaning.  Her scholarly inquiries range from the free speech implications of copyright regulation of Internet radio to the visual presentation of roadside memorial crosses and the separation of church and state.

Amanda, who earned a Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Florida, has long contributed to the work of the Center by assisting with our M.A./J.D. and Ph.D./J.D. dual-degree programs in media law. With her training in both journalism and law, Amanda is uniquely well-suited to help grow the dual-degree program and assist in our ongoing work producing interdisciplinary research and scholarship examining how media law and policy can help traditional and new media meet the information needs of all Americans.

“I look forward to working with my brilliant colleagues and terrific students to host important conversations,” Amanda told me. “This is a vital moment to facilitate meaningful discussions about our First Amendment values.”

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