Law for Business 10th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 8

Alan Howard is a subscriber of America Online (AOL), an Internet service provider that provides Internet access, electronic mail, and numerous other services to its users. Howard filed a lawsuit against AOL, alleging that the company violated the Communications Act by making unreasonable charges, practices, classifications, or regulations; by unreasonably prejudicing some subscribers by favoring others; and by failing to protect subscriber privacy. AOL defended on the grounds that the Communications Act regulates only common carriers and, since it was not a common carrier, it was not governed by that statute. Carefully explain the process by which the court will determine if AOL is a common carrier.