Section 230 The 26 Words that Formed Basis of the Invention of the Internet
Section 230 of the United States law is known as “Internet Invention Words”. It is not so long ago that a question arose as to what a global computer network would look like, i.e., how the world would be connected through computers. Everything seemed possible in cyberspace, but there was concern about the content being published online. But there was also a fear that this concern might overshadow the idea of the invention that the world knows today as the Internet. The words used in Section 230 of the United States law are known as “Internet Invention Words”. The words of Section 230: ‘No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be deemed to be a publisher or speaker of any information supplied by any other information content provider.
Legal Recourse for Technology Companies
It is truly a legal recourse for technology companies to ensure that tech companies cannot be held responsible for any questionable activities or damages. And this is the assurance that ensured the invention of the Internet. Now, whether it is a good invention or a bad one, Section 230 of the US Act is definitely a unique law of its kind. No other item in the world has such a broad exemption for online services. Now, since it’s no coincidence that the United States is home to the largest interactive computing services on the planet, other sovereign nations have a hard time enacting their own laws to keep the big tech companies at bay.
26 Words
However, with the passage of time, these 26 words themselves created anxiety in America. Democrats believe these words have allowed falsehoods and hate speech to spread online and failed to prompt internet platforms to act quickly to stop it or hold them accountable.
Section 230 of Censoring Conservative Views
Republicans, for their part, accuse Section 230 of censoring conservative views and giving online platforms too much power over the content featured on their sites. Therefore, special immunity should be removed and more stringent measures should be implemented. Former President Donald Trump also declared that “we have to get rid of Section 230.” However, those few words that are called the inventors of the Internet still exist in their place.
Commercial Basis
As the Internet went from being used only by academics to being in the hands of everyone around the world, telematics services began on a commercial basis. could and could access information. One of them was a major prodigy. As more and more people came online to read news, share recipes, or express opinions, its administrators noticed that obscene, insulting, and fake messages were also being post.
Criminal organization
Prodigy decided that it needed to “moderate” its content, that is, delete inappropriate messages. One day, a brokerage house call Starton Oakmont sue Prodigy, claiming that Someone use the platform to defame the company as a criminal organization and call its president a thief who is involve in several scams.
Moderators
In court, the firm’s lawyers argue that because Prodigy employed “moderators” it was liable for every defamatory message that was not delete. And the company won the case. The judge wrote in his ruling that Prodigy exercise editorial authority over newspaper style. In this case, Prodigy had to pay 100 million US dollars. Years later it was find that it was not all defamation, but this company called Stanton-Oakmont and its president defraud many shareholders, and many of its heads remain in prison. The firm close in 1996. But all that was still unknown, and as far as what would happen to the Internet, it didn’t matter.
CompuServe
The important thing here was that around the same time, there was another defamation case against another public service provider call CompuServe. Decide not to moderate, so his case was dismiss. Basically, the law says that if a website’s focus is on monitoring and enforcing the rules, then it should responsible for everything a user posts. is responsible but if he is blind to what is being post then he is out of this responsibility.
California Republican Representative Chris Cox
When former California Republican Representative Chris Cox find out about it, he realize that this was not the right way to manage this new form of communication because he knew it was going to be so important. talk to his friend, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, about it, and together the two set out to find a better way. Two days later he complete a text with the words necessary to create the network we know today as the Internet.
No Guardian
At the signing ceremony held at the Library of Congress for the Communications Decency Act of 1996, then-US President Bill Clinton said, “Today, our world is once again shape by the information revolution. He assure that ‘ This landmark law recognizes that with freedom comes responsibility. It guarantees the diversity of opinion on which our democracy depends. Above all, perhaps, it improves the common good.
Obscenity in Cyberspace
And then the controversy arose. But not because of the 26 words that appeared in Section 230, but because the law sought to regulate both obscenity and obscenity in cyberspace. Free speech advocates successfully argue that the First Amendment protect free speech, for example, the use of novels or the “seven bad words” in print (which were censor by blips on TV) but would suddenly become illegal after its passage. Critics also point out that the law would have a negative impact on the availability of medical information. Online protests and lawsuits soon follow. Most of the Communications Decency Act was amend, but the then seemingly innocuous Section 230 was not change.
Protected Bookstore Owners
At the time, no one generally understood its implications. It was similar to the law that protect bookstore owners, who had held responsible for selling “obscene” books in the past. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Supreme Court rule that booksellers could not sue for what was written in any of the books they had in their possession, because it was impossible for them to read all of the books. Fair enough. For books, however, there were publishers who can sue and were therefore gatekeepers. Internet publishing didn’t have those barriers because not only were there no gatekeepers, there were no gates.
Violate Federal Criminal Law
Section 230 does not protect companies that violate federal criminal law, that create illegal or harmful content, or that violate intellectual property rights. But it provides a shield. And that’s because it basically says that when there’s harmful content, the creator should held responsible, not the uploader. Allows operators to moderate and determine what is allow on their platforms, as long as they do so “in good faith.” In view of rapid user growth, it is important to ensure that websites are moderate as much as possible to avoid the risk of being constantly drag to court. It was on this basis that the vast online ocean we navigate today was create.
Non-confrontational Attitude
From eBay and Wikipedia to Facebook, Airbnb, X (formerly Twitter), and Google, nothing would exist without this non-confrontational attitude. But just as this freedom has given birth to wonderful things, it has also given birth to tyranny. So, it needs to modify.
Trafficking or Fake news
Few would oppose removing things that facilitate child sex trafficking or fake news, cyber bullying, bias against minorities, scams and more. This is why content providers are under constant pressure to act. But supporters of Section 230 have always insist that it amend without violating the spirit of the law. They are afraid that once it starts to peel off, it will stop because people will push for more and more. And many people have. They include both politicians and ordinary people, and there are people in Congress and in the courts, even the Supreme Court.
Why does it persist despite so many attacks?
“It is useful to imagine what would happen if these 26 words were erase from history”.
Hindrance in the past
Companies will have to face the same difficulty that has been a hindrance in the past. One way is to not monitor anything and open the door to everyone. So that they don’t have to take responsibility for anything. If he defend the surveillance, companies. Would have no choice but to ban certain words and strictly monitor given the broad content. For example, it could remove racially or sexually biased content, but also Black Lives Matter. Or movements like Me Too can suffer. With the help of artificial intelligence, controversial and prohibit content will have to remove indiscriminately.
Many Websites at Risk
Such strict monitoring can put many websites at risk and the content there will not as interesting or interesting. You’ll have to check how the content is allow, whether it’s satire or opinion. We may not like such content, but removing it would violate the principle of freedom of access to the Internet. On the other hand, removing Section 230. Would also affect review websites like Etsy and Yelp. Which are establish to help consumers. There will be a loss because they don’t have huge resources like Google or Facebook.
Disappearance of Content
Such a move may lead to the disappearance of content on platforms such as Wikipedia. Startup companies, which could have become the next TikTok. Will suffer from lack of competition. Because they will not have the resources to regularly remove content that hurts someone’s sentiments. If someone sues them, they won’t even be able to defend themselves. That is, only big companies will be able to get out of this problem. Under the new rules, media outlets on social media will become one-sided, as in the case of TV or newspapers.
Resolve the Section 230 issue
Thus, there is no way to resolve the Section 230 issue without affecting the Internet. 27 years ago, these 26 words are still relevant today because they all relate to democracy. As Winston Churchill said, ‘No one claims that every aspect of democracy (and Section 230) is good. Indeed, it has said that democracy (and Section 230) is the worst form of government. But it’s better than anything we’ve try from time to time.
