dmagda@ee.ryerson.ca
Date: Sat, Dec 23, 2017 at 10:44 AM
[via Dave Farber]
Another Internet debate is simmering, specifically about the liability of online companies and their users:
> Twenty-six words within Section 230 shield websites from many types of
claims arising from user content: ``No provider or user of an interactive
computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any
information provided by another information content provider. For
example, if a newspaper publishes a defamatory article, the subject can
sue the newspaper publisher for defamation. But under Section 230, if a
user posts a defamatory comment on Twitter, the subject cannot
successfully sue Twitter for defamation (but can sue the tweeter).
> I'm writing a book about Section 230 for Cornell University Press, titled
*The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet*. The title is not an
overstatement. Without Section 230, it is difficult to conceive of social
media, consumer review sites, and other user-focused online platforms
existing in their current forms.
> Perhaps no case was more troubling to me than a lawsuit brought by
plaintiffs who were victims of sex-trafficking against Backpage.com, the
site where they were advertised. A district court granted Backpage's
motion to dismiss, relying on Section 230 immunity, and last year the US
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the decision.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/how-do-you-change-the-most-important-law-in-internet-history-carefully/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communications_Decency_Act