Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Privilege without responsibility
Turley brings out a fact that I hadn't heard before. It doesn't get much attention.
Web services are clearly somewhere between the traditional roles of publisher and carrier.
Turley's rarely heard point: Web services were granted immunity from prosecution for carrying illegal or libelous content.
Immunity makes sense for the post office or the old Bell Tel utility, because they couldn't practically read or listen to every message. Neutral carriers are expected to carry messages until a specific sender has been legally banned. After a sender has been determined to be officially obscene or treasonous, the carrier will usually disconnect service.
Immunity doesn't make sense for Youtube and Facebook, which use algos and thousands of human censors to EDIT content. By normal definitions they are publishers, not carriers. A publisher can be sued for carrying illegal or libelous content, because the publisher has knowingly decided to publish the material.
Immunity is normally balanced by the requirement to carry content until specifically banned. Google and FB are getting immunity without the requirement to carry.
¶ 1:19 AM 
