Science has development from a self-evident public good to being highly valued in other contexts for different reasons: strengthening the economic competitiveness and, especially in high-tech fields, as a financial investment for future gains. This has been accompanied by a shift from public to private funding with intellectual property rights gaining importance. But in contemporary democracies citizens have also begun to voice their concerns about science and technology related risks, demanding greater participation in decision-making and in the setting of research priorities. The book examines the legal issues and responses vis-à-vis these transformations of the nature of public science. It discusses their normative content as well as the inherent limitations of the law in meeting these challenges.

Das Telekommunikationsgesetz bildet den Mittelpunkt der staatlichen Ordnung für die Informationsgesellschaft. Zugleich ist es ein Muster moderner Regulierung im Wirtschaftsverwaltungsrecht. Es regelt alle Aspekte der Erbringung und Nutzung von Telekommunikations-Leistungen: Lizensierung, Zusammenschaltung und offener Netzzugang Kundenschutz und Telefonnummernvergabe Frequenzordnung und Entgeltregulierung Wegerechte, Datenschutz und staatliche Fernmeldeüberwachung Kommentiert wird auch das Gesetz über Funkanlagen und Telekommunikationsendeinrichtungen (FTEG), das Produktrecht der Telekommunikation. Eine Kommentierung aus einem Guss: Das gesamte deutsche Telekommunikationsrecht wird in einem einheitlichen Gesamtkonzept erläutert, theoretisch fundiert und praxisnah zugleich. Die Autoren berücksichtigen umfassend die Regulierungs- und gerichtliche Entscheidungspraxis (wie UMTS-Lizenzierung, Zusammenschaltungs-Preisregulierung und Entscheidungen zur Internet-Flatrate) sowie die verwaltungs- und europarechtlichen Grundlagen. Für die Entwicklung der Informationsgesellschaft und für die internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Deutschlands kommt der Telekommunikation eine Schlüsselposition zu. Zugleich ist das Telekommunikationsrecht eines der dynamischen Rechtsgebiete des europäischen und deutschen Wirtschaftsverwaltungsrechts.

The relationship between law and knowledge is a new topic in the field of legal science, and it is dealt with in particular in public law as sub-discipline of law. The topic is definitely not new with regard to other scientific domains. Thus law might be seen as a late comer. This article intends to outline some aspects of the current discussion to provide the essential groundwork on the topic, initially by explaining why the interrelation between law and knowledge might be important. This article does not cover aspects of knowledge as an object of law, which is often discussed under this headline but focusses on more basic aspects of the relationship between knowledge and law that may summarized in the hypothesis that law shapes knowledge but also that knowledge shapes the law. Following an introduction on how 'knowledge' is to be defined as a term, the discourse moves on to examine law as a practice through which knowledge is constantly generated in multiple manners, while, immediately afterwards the different typologies of knowledge, from the most tangible (through experience and conventions) to the most articulate ones (through European administrative networks) are presented. It reveals an important requirement of creating a European Administrative space, which is a shared knowledge base where administrative actions are embedded in. Even if it may come as a surprise to some, ignorance, as the opposite of knowledge, can also be a process or element that plays a role in law generation, as the article further argues. Last but not least, an analysis of the preconditions necessary for observing the law and knowledge conundrum either under conditions of awareness or of ignorance is provided.