Early life Boe was born in
Ohio and grew up in
Iowa City, Iowa. He attended the
University of Wisconsin–Madison and graduated in 1983 with majors in political science and economics. He graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1987. After graduation, he worked at
Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn in
Washington, D.C. Legal career In 1995, Boe represented
Joe Shea, the publisher of the
American Reporter, in a challenge to the recently passed
Communications Decency Act (CDA) over concerns that the Act made it illegal to publish, distribute or disseminate "indecent" material on the Internet. Boe was the lead counsel in
Shea v. Reno, filed in federal court in
New York at about the same time as the
ACLU filed their challenge to the same statute in
Philadelphia. A three judge panel, led by Judge
José A. Cabranes, unanimously ruled in July 1996 that the
Communications Decency Act was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and enjoined its enforcement. The government appealed the decisions in both
Shea v. Reno and
ACLU v. Reno. Ultimately, the
Supreme Court affirmed the judgements in both cases. Boe then joined
America Online's legal department. He led AOL's defense in
Zeran v. America Online, Inc., the first time the immunity provisions of
Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act were invoked. He also participated in
Sidney Blumenthal's defamation lawsuit against AOL and
Matt Drudge and
Doe v. AOL. Boe was also involved in lawsuits regarding
junk e-mail. Under his direction, AOL began filing a series of civil lawsuits to collect damages from spammers. Boe testified before Congress on the issue and contributed to Virginia's Anti-Spam law, as well as the Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Boe was a part of the legal team on the "AOL Access Crisis of 1996 and 1997", leading to settlements with State Attorneys General over marketing practices. After the AOL-Time Warner merger closed in 2001, Boe was named AOL's General Counsel. In 2001, on behalf of
Netscape, Boe filed an
antitrust lawsuit against
Microsoft. Microsoft paid $750 million to settle the lawsuit. In 2006, Boe joined a task force in response to the
AOL search data scandal to investigate the matter and provide recommendations on improving AOL privacy policies. In October 2006, Boe became Executive Vice President for Consumer Advocacy at AOL and stepped down as General Counsel of the company.
Arena Football League Boe was named commissioner of the Arena Football League in 2018 after
Scott Butera left the office that March. There were four active teams in the
2018 Arena Football League season. The league shut down after the 2019 season. ==References==