Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, originally its own bill, was an addition to the CDA by the US House of Representatives. Section 230 includes protection for internet service providers (ISPs) and website owners by stating “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.” This means that if someone were to go on a website as a third party user and engage in illicit activity, the website’s owner would not be held at fault for that occurrence. This protection for ISPs and website administrators has been hailed as a bulwark for internet freedom.
This piece of legislation in the past has protected companies like Facebook and Twitter and allows ISPs to provide unfettered access to the internet without a requirement for censorship. Unfortunately, the future of this freedom has become uncertain as attacks and challenges become more frequent.
In July of 2013, Attorneys General of 47 states petitioned Congress to do away with the immunity offered by Section 230. The ACLU reacted to the petition, arguing that because of Section 230, “[a] website can provide a platform for all speech without worrying that if one of its online users posts something stupid, critical, defamatory, or unlawful, the website itself can be held responsible.” The ACLU further stated that if Section 230 were removed that “it wouldn’t take long for the vibrant culture of free speech to disappear from the web.”
Originally posted 2017-01-06 15:53:13.
