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The Open Social Web Needs Section 230 to Survive (www.eff.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago by schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'm usually a big fan of the EFF, but it's wrong on this one. If you decentralize to the limit -- i.e., such that each user is running their own instance for themselves -- it becomes okay for the service to become liable for the user's speech because the user and the service owner are one in the same. In reality, (extremely) federated social media is the only kind that can survive without Section 230 and thus repealing it entirely would be a win for the Fediverse.

(You could argue "but users won't go to the trouble of running their own instance," but to that I'd say "they will if the law doesn't give them any other choice, short of not participating at all.")

[+] zipsglacier@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

That’s how federation works with[out] requiring a direct connection from every instance to every other instance. My instance can connect to yours to get your content, but also the content from all other instances that you federate with. And vice-versa.

So what? That's like saying ISPs should require Section 230 to avoid liability because they route packets. We're talking about legality: it's stuff like intent and responsibility that matters, not the technical details. Each instance owner still gets to decide which other instances they want to federate with; some 'middle hop' in that connection is irrelevant.

The fundamental issue that Section 230 is designed to address is the separation between the users posting the content and the platform owners who control who sees it, and the moral hazard that creates. If you eliminate the separation, there's nowhere left for the moral hazard to exist.