If Congress won’t pass Section 230 legislation for combating child exploitation (see 2003090065), the alternative is a liability protection carve-out, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Wednesday after a committee hearing. He introduced legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that would alter the Communications Decency Act section. Companies would have to comply with best practices for filtering child abuse content or face lawsuits from victims. The legislation would establish a commission of government officials, industry representatives and experts to certify best business practices.
Section 230
Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act may need to be revisited, suggested Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. A quarter century after enactment, 230 immunity "has not always been a force for good, particularly in light of some of the extraordinarily broad interpretation given to it by some courts," DAG Rosen told a Free State Foundation conference Tuesday. He listed some criteria to consider in such revamp efforts.
The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee will explore site blocking as a form of internet piracy prevention, Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told us Tuesday after a hearing. Ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., said he’s “open to it,” and it needs to be weighed against the speech concerns.
The Internet Association will testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on Section 230 legislation (see 2003050066) from Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Witnesses are: IA Deputy General Counsel Elizabeth Banker, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Vice President-Exploited Children Division John Shehan, Match Group Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Jared Sine, Catholic University of America law professor Mary Leary and NCMEC Team Hope member "Nicole."
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced long-anticipated legislation Thursday (see 2002070052) that would alter Section 230, exposing online platforms to civil liability for violating child sexual abuse material-related laws. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It Act) was introduced with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. Additional sponsors are Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Bob Casey, D-Pa., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer should leave Section 230-like protections out of future trade deals, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said during a hearing Wednesday. She wrote a letter to Lighthizer last week, joining House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., with the same request (see 1908060064).
The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon hold a hearing on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and legislative proposals (see 2002210057), Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Tuesday.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act remains a vital tool for allowing innovation and startups to grow, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told reporters Tuesday, the day after another legislator threatened the tech industry’s liability shield with a legislative proposal (see 2002240051). “It’s just as important now as it was then, and the big guys are always ... looking to have more tools to dominate the little guys,” said Wyden, an author of Section 230. “Our constituency was always for the disruptor, the innovator, the person who is willing to take on the powerful and entrenched interests.”
NAB members readied Monday for Capitol Hill meetings on the industry group’s 2020 legislative priorities, including their position on the FCC’s plans for auctioning spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band and restoring the minority tax certificate program. NAB CEO Gordon Smith and others lauded the group’s recent legislative victories, including Congress scaling back the distant-signal compulsory license during the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization last year (see 1912190068). Matthew Berry, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s chief of staff, continued to tease a potential commission appeal to the Supreme Court of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' Prometheus IV decision.
Platforms should take on more civil liability for terror- and murder-related content, advocates said in interviews two days after Attorney General Bill Barr said Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act potentially blocks victims from seeking civil recovery (see 2002190056). The topic is gaining steam on Capitol Hill (see 2001280059).