Slashdot reader GatorSnake shares “Another take of the implications of Section 230… One person poisoned the online personas of multiple people who had ‘wronged’ her, with it being nearly impossible to have the false accusations removed from the sites or from Google’s search results.” The New York Times reports:
Mr. Babcock, a software engineer, got off the phone and Googled himself. The…
Tag: Section 230
Does Facebook Have a Joe Biden Problem?
Last week the Democratic party took control of all three branches of the U.S. government — and the BBC’s North America technology reporter notes they dislike Facebook even more now than during the Cambridge Analytica scandal: Since then, Democrats — Joe Biden included — have been appalled by what Facebook has allowed on its platform. Talking to a CNN anchor in…
The Case Against Section 230: ‘The 1996 Law That Ruined the Internet’
Writing in the Atlantic, programmer/economics commentator Steve Randy Waldman explains “Why I changed my mind” about the Communication Decency Act’s Section 230: In the United States, you are free to speak, but you are not free of responsibility for what you say. If your speech is defamatory, you can be sued. If you are a publisher, you can be sued for…
McConnell Ties Full Repeal of Section 230 To Push for $2,000 Stimulus Checks
On Tuesday night, McConnell introduced a new bill tying increased stimulus payments to a full repeal of Section 230. From a report: The bill comes amid new momentum for direct $2000 stimulus payments, and increasing pressure on party leaders to appease President Trump’s escalating demands. Democratic party leaders criticized the inclusion of Section 230 repeal as an effort to scuttle stimulus…
FCC Defends Helping Trump, Claims Authority Over Social Media Law
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission’s top lawyer today explained the FCC’s theory of why it can grant President Donald Trump’s request for a new interpretation of a law that provides legal protection to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Critics of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan from both the left and right…
FCC Will Move To Regulate Social Media After Censorship Outcry
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that the agency will seek to regulate social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter at the behest of the Trump administration’s executive order signed earlier this year. “Members of all three branches of the federal government have expressed serious concerns about the prevailing…
Trump’s Plan To Regulate Social Media
Esther Schindler writes: A 55-page proposal to make the FCC rewrite a law through administrative rulemaking would threaten small social sites and generate vast amounts of new business for trial lawyers. Expect some of the people who denounced net-neutrality regulations to cheer it on. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would have the FCC rewrite Section 230 of the Communications…
US Senate Amends EARN IT Act — To Let States Restrict Encryption
Long-time Slashdot reader stikves reminded us that a committee in the U.S. Senate passed an amended version of the “EARN IT” act on Thursday. And this new version could do more than just end personal end-to-end encryption, warns Engadget: The other major concern opponents of the EARN IT Act raise has to do with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,…
Justice Dept. Urges Rolling Back Legal Shield for Tech Companies
The Justice Department released recommendations on Wednesday to pare back the legal shield for online platforms that has been crucial to their growth since the earliest days of the internet, taking a direct shot at companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that have come into the cross hairs of the Trump administration. From a report: In a 25-page recommendation, the agency…
Americans Don’t Trust Content Decisions Made By Social Media Giants, Study Says
Most Americans don’t trust social media companies to police the content on their platforms, according to a poll published Tuesday from Gallup and the Knight Foundation. CNET reports: The poll found that 80% of Americans don’t trust big tech companies to make the right decisions about what content appears on their sites and what should be removed. People, especially conservatives, trust…