FOSTA, SESTA, and Section 230

The U.S. House of Representatives appears about to vote on a bill forcing platforms to monitor users’ content and undermining Section 230, charter of freedom for online social media, all in the name of the widening campaign against real or imagined trafficking. [Electronic Frontier Foundation; Eric Goldman post and podcast and background from September; Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks; earlier here, etc.] More: John Samples, Cato; Cathy Gellis, TechDirt.

2 Comments

  • Rush Limbaugh might stop this, if given a reason

    (Does anyone know someone who can get through to him?)

    The libertarian Left has been flattened by the Anti-Sex League, and establishment Left politicians find a crony relationship with a handful of Silicon Valley giants appealing– holding the promise of unchallenged power for a generation.

    The dog that did not bark:

    It is instructive that Facebook and Google are going along with this bill, in sharp contrast with their opposition to SOPA in 2012. They face significant legal expenses, but are large enough to absorb them. In contrast, smaller competitors will be driven out of business.

    Intelligent elements on the Right might yet be mobilized to oppose this concentration of power with Facebook and Google. They already know that Facebook is trimming right-wing accounts, and Google is firing right-wing employees. “Facebook and Google are not your friends.”

    If Rush Limbaugh used his show to raise the alarm, Capitol Hill switchboards could be flooded with demands that Republicans send this poorly conceived bill back to committee and rewrite it narrowly to achieve its ostensible purpose. But someone would have to get him past the simple belief that all tech companies are the same– not true as far as this bill is concerned.

    Other anti-establishment Right-wing voices should also be contacted by those who know how to address them.

  • WSJ ran a good Op-Ed today (2018/3/03 Saturday)

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/political-sex-trafficking-exploitation-1520035315

    Unfortunately, they do not carry the weight with Republicans that they did four
    years ago.