Section 230 was directly contradicted last year when the case known as Jane Doe No.14 v. Internet Brands, Inc. was decided in favor of the plaintiff. In the case, Jane Doe, a model on the site Model Mayhem, alleged that Internet Brands, Inc. (the parent company) had knowledge that users were engaging in criminal activity on the site. Specifically, two users on the site were targeting women and sexually violating them. In the court’s decision, it was determined that the website could, in fact, be held responsible for not warning a user of any potential harm. While in this specific case, it was discovered that Internet Brands had direct knowledge of a long history (5 years) of criminal activity by these users, there is concern that the ruling potentially sets a precedent of holding website owners responsible for communication between third-party users on its servers. Free speech advocates and civil liberties groups will be watching developments in this case very closely.
Beyond individual criminal activity, internet censorship has turned into an issue with important national security implications. Groups like Wikileaks and Anonymous and government whistleblowers like Edward Snowden have regularly used the internet to distribute potentially sensitive information about government activities and political activity, information that would be a high priority for censorship.
Originally posted 2017-01-06 15:53:13.
