Legal Issues: Creative Law and Section 230

3 Pages Posted: 4 May 2017

Date Written: July 1, 2014

Abstract

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA - found at Title 47, Section 230 of the United States Code, available online at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230) is among the more frustrating technology laws. Enacted in 1995 during the early days of the Internet’s life as a global communication platform, most of the CDA was designed to regulate offensive content on the Internet, and was quickly struck down by the courts for violating Free Speech rights. Section 230, however, survived. Section 230 provides that internet service providers–at that time focused on providers like America Online and CompuServe–would not be liable for content provided by others. The law was designed to allow the Internet to thrive by ensuring that service providers would not be held responsible for content which they have no control over.

The law says that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Over the years that has come to mean that the law applies not only to ISP’s like America Online, Comcast, and AT&T, but also any website that obtains and serves content from third parties. Consequently, websites hosting videos, forum and blog comments, “gripes” are not responsible for the content provided by those third parties.

Keywords: Internet, Section 230, defamation, ISPs, Web 2.0, Blogs, Communications Decency Act,

Suggested Citation

Pike, George H., Legal Issues: Creative Law and Section 230 (July 1, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2963062 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2963062

George H. Pike (Contact Author)

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law ( email )

375 E. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
312-503-0295 (Phone)
312-503-9230 (Fax)

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