Benjamin W Cramer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4639578 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin W Cramer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin W |
| FAMILY NAME | Cramer |
| SIGNATURE | CRAMER B W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8240-1155 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Damaged Public Lands for Rural Broadband Development
Pennsylvania has large regions that are underserved by broadband networks due to the challenges of rugged topography that has resisted the development of previous networks, from transportation to cellular phones. However, most such underserved areas are relatively close to public lands (protected by the state) that have already been damaged by other industries such as mining and logging. This article recommends that these damaged public lands be …
Through a screen darkly
Research Handbook on Information Policy
In the very first published article in the very first issue of the Journal of Information Policy back in 2011, Sandra Braman defined information policy as “laws, regulations, and doctrinal positions—and other decision making and practices with society-wide constitutive effects—involving information creation, processing, flows, access, and use.” That seminal conception of the field is cited by several authors in the 2021 book Research Handbook on …
The moral hazard of Lax FCC land use oversight for advanced network infrastructure
From Liability to Accountability
In the United States, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity from liability for Internet operators who host information submitted by their users. This article will argue that Section 230 allows firms to avoid accountability for the malfeasance that their platforms have enabled. With a focus on the ethical differences between liability (a legal concept) and accountability (an ethical concept), the article will recommend wa…
The Influence of Topography and Fracking on Cellular Network Availability in Unserved Areas of North Central Pennsylvania
North Central Pennsylvania suffers from sparse cellular network coverage due to the longstanding challenges of low populations and rugged topography that are common in other remote areas. However, in recent years the natural gas (“fracking”) industry has entered the region and enjoys much better network coverage than citizens. Based on field research by the author, this article analyzes the geographical, economic, and political causes of these pa…
Irresistible
Now that governments are finally investigating the use of personal data by online behemoths like Facebook, the time is nigh for evaluating how such companies have convinced billions of people to hand over their personal data voluntarily. Scientists are discovering that social media, video games, and other online platforms have been designed to make them addictive, to the point at which privacy and other scruples are forgotten. User addiction is s…
A Proposal to Adopt Data Discrimination Rather than Privacy as the Justification for Rolling Back Data Surveillance
Critics of data surveillance by government and businesses have used a legal strategy based on privacy, but have thus far been unsuccessful. This article suggests that civil libertarians should consider raising the specter of unfair data discrimination in legal arguments to roll back data surveillance, and they may find support from statutory and judicial precedents in which the American government fought to protect citizens from older types of di…
The Attention Merchants
Obfuscation
America's Battle for Media Democracy
My copy of this book contains a very interesting and inadvertently revealing typo. On the last page, the publisher has furnished a list of “Other Books in the Series” that includes an item by Victor Pickard titled How America Lost the Battle for Media Democracy: Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform. That title is suspiciously similar to the title of the book presently being reviewed, but it contains a note of political finality…
To Save Everything, Click Here
Captive Audience
In early 2013 Susan Crawford was the subject of rumors as a possible pick for the soon-to-be vacant Chairmanship at the Federal Communications Commission. The reliability of those rumors is suspect, but if such an eventuality comes to pass, her Senate confirmation hearing could be made much more dramatic by this unapologetic new book. Crawford, a communications policy professor at Cardozo Law School and former Special Assistant to the President f…
Nothing to Hide
Privacy has certainly been in the news in recent times, with citizens (and their political representatives) becoming concerned about the use of their data by the companies that provide the information and communications services they increasingly crave -and depend upon.Policy experts and government watchdogs have also been paying close attention to privacy issues since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, after which government surveillan…
The Master Switch
The Journal of Information Policy
Anyone involved in information policy will tell you that there is no paucity of research on information policy issues produced by academics, policymakers and their staffs, corporations, think tanks, lobbyists, and civil society activists. Why then another journal? When we met soon after the 2008 elections with newly appointed government officials, colleagues across academia, public interest groups in and outside of Washington, and decision makers…
To Save Everything, Click Here
The Master Switch
From Liability to Accountability
In the United States, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity from liability for Internet operators who host information submitted by their users. This article will argue that Section 230 allows firms to avoid accountability for the malfeasance that their platforms have enabled. With a focus on the ethical differences between liability (a legal concept) and accountability (an ethical concept), the article will recommend wa…
A Proposal to Adopt Data Discrimination Rather than Privacy as the Justification for Rolling Back Data Surveillance
Critics of data surveillance by government and businesses have used a legal strategy based on privacy, but have thus far been unsuccessful. This article suggests that civil libertarians should consider raising the specter of unfair data discrimination in legal arguments to roll back data surveillance, and they may find support from statutory and judicial precedents in which the American government fought to protect citizens from older types of di…
The Attention Merchants
The Master Switch
The Journal of Information Policy
Anyone involved in information policy will tell you that there is no paucity of research on information policy issues produced by academics, policymakers and their staffs, corporations, think tanks, lobbyists, and civil society activists. Why then another journal? When we met soon after the 2008 elections with newly appointed government officials, colleagues across academia, public interest groups in and outside of Washington, and decision makers…
Nothing to Hide
Privacy has certainly been in the news in recent times, with citizens (and their political representatives) becoming concerned about the use of their data by the companies that provide the information and communications services they increasingly crave -and depend upon.Policy experts and government watchdogs have also been paying close attention to privacy issues since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, after which government surveillan…
Captive Audience
In early 2013 Susan Crawford was the subject of rumors as a possible pick for the soon-to-be vacant Chairmanship at the Federal Communications Commission. The reliability of those rumors is suspect, but if such an eventuality comes to pass, her Senate confirmation hearing could be made much more dramatic by this unapologetic new book. Crawford, a communications policy professor at Cardozo Law School and former Special Assistant to the President f…
To Save Everything, Click Here
America's Battle for Media Democracy
My copy of this book contains a very interesting and inadvertently revealing typo. On the last page, the publisher has furnished a list of “Other Books in the Series” that includes an item by Victor Pickard titled How America Lost the Battle for Media Democracy: Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform. That title is suspiciously similar to the title of the book presently being reviewed, but it contains a note of political finality…
Obfuscation
The Attention Merchants
Irresistible
Now that governments are finally investigating the use of personal data by online behemoths like Facebook, the time is nigh for evaluating how such companies have convinced billions of people to hand over their personal data voluntarily. Scientists are discovering that social media, video games, and other online platforms have been designed to make them addictive, to the point at which privacy and other scruples are forgotten. User addiction is s…
A Proposal to Adopt Data Discrimination Rather than Privacy as the Justification for Rolling Back Data Surveillance
Critics of data surveillance by government and businesses have used a legal strategy based on privacy, but have thus far been unsuccessful. This article suggests that civil libertarians should consider raising the specter of unfair data discrimination in legal arguments to roll back data surveillance, and they may find support from statutory and judicial precedents in which the American government fought to protect citizens from older types of di…
The Influence of Topography and Fracking on Cellular Network Availability in Unserved Areas of North Central Pennsylvania
North Central Pennsylvania suffers from sparse cellular network coverage due to the longstanding challenges of low populations and rugged topography that are common in other remote areas. However, in recent years the natural gas (“fracking”) industry has entered the region and enjoys much better network coverage than citizens. Based on field research by the author, this article analyzes the geographical, economic, and political causes of these pa…
From Liability to Accountability
In the United States, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity from liability for Internet operators who host information submitted by their users. This article will argue that Section 230 allows firms to avoid accountability for the malfeasance that their platforms have enabled. With a focus on the ethical differences between liability (a legal concept) and accountability (an ethical concept), the article will recommend wa…
The moral hazard of Lax FCC land use oversight for advanced network infrastructure
Research Handbook on Information Policy
In the very first published article in the very first issue of the Journal of Information Policy back in 2011, Sandra Braman defined information policy as “laws, regulations, and doctrinal positions—and other decision making and practices with society-wide constitutive effects—involving information creation, processing, flows, access, and use.” That seminal conception of the field is cited by several authors in the 2021 book Research Handbook on …
Through a screen darkly
Damaged Public Lands for Rural Broadband Development
Pennsylvania has large regions that are underserved by broadband networks due to the challenges of rugged topography that has resisted the development of previous networks, from transportation to cellular phones. However, most such underserved areas are relatively close to public lands (protected by the state) that have already been damaged by other industries such as mining and logging. This article recommends that these damaged public lands be …
Political science (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Internet privacy (5 works) · Advertising (3 works) · Computer security (3 works) · History (3 works) · History (3 works)