It is rare that the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States actually write or speak about technology. But as connectivity and user-generated content become more ubiquitous and pervasive, sometimes the Court — despite its inherent judicial conservatism — just can’t avoid touching on issues related to the use, importance and legal status of modern communications technologies.

With the tremendous growth in social media over the past several years, and especially the vast increase in sharing of user-generated content (UGC) on the Internet. there’s been a greater focus on ownership. How do U.S. intellectual property laws affect claims to ownership, and hence permissible use, of Facebook posts, YouTube videos, Twitter tweets, Flickr photos and the like?

Behavioral conditions have been a growing feature of competition review in communications transactions in the U.S. for years, now visibly in play in the AT&T/T-Mobile proposed merger. Observers can expect behavioral injunctions, whether by DOJ consent decree or FCC “conditions” to approval, addressing the deal’s vertical factors, for instance backhaul provided by landline telecom special access services and access to content from unaffiliated providers.