Wednesday 15 November 2017

Week 5: Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Internet Law’s Most Important Judicial Decision | The Recorder

Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Internet Law’s Most Important Judicial Decision | The Recorder: "§230’s implications first became clear from the first appellate court opinion interpreting it, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Zeran v. AOL.

The Zeran case involved a pernicious cyber-harassment attack. An unknown perpetrator posted inflammatory messages to AOL purporting to be from Zeran, which prompted outraged readers to bombard Zeran with angry phone calls.

The Fourth Circuit concluded that §230 protected AOL from liability for publishing the inflammatory messages.

The Zeran case interpreted §230 quite broadly, providing liability immunity even when online publishers exercise editorial control over third party content, and even when the online publisher fails to respond to takedown notices.

Due to its timing and its breadth, the Zeran opinion had an enormous influence on subsequent courts’ interpretations of §230, leading them to apply the statutory immunity expansively across a wide range of circumstances.

Together, §230 and the Zeran ruling helped create a trillion-dollar industry centered around user-generated content.

Because of its influence on such a key issue, the Zeran ruling is widely considered the most important Internet Law ruling ever.

It is also a controversial opinion, and debates about the ruling’s conclusion and implications continue to this day." 'via Blog this'

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