News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:DOJ unveils proposed Section 230 legislation by mullingitover on Wednesday September 23, 2020 @03:08PM (#24570716)
What's stopping web sites from getting around all this with some basic changes to their terms of use?
Re:DOJ unveils proposed Section 230 legislation by anonHacker2 on Thursday September 24, 2020 @02:10AM (#24575772)
Subparagraph (c)1(B) says that the only safe harbor for removing content is (c)(2). (c)(2)(A) restricts the criteria that can be used to remove content to the following: "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, promoting terrorism or violent extremism, harassing, promoting self-harm, or unlawful".

Furthermore, section (c)(1)(C) implies that removing ANY content by a user could make the forum liable for ALL OTHER content posted by that user, unless there is "good faith", but "good faith" is defined in section (g)(5)(A) to require all moderation criteria to be defined with "particularity".

Most open-ended subjective moderation criteria (such as used on Hacker News e.g. "Be kind. Don't be snarky") could be construed to lack "particularity" and is often about things not on the list in (c)(2)(A).

Re:DOJ unveils proposed Section 230 legislation by mullingitover on Thursday September 24, 2020 @05:03PM (#24583625)
I'm talking about abandoning the 230 safe harbor protections (since this bill would render them worthless), and instead requiring in their TOU that posters agree to assume full liability for content they post, and also agree that anything they post can be removed for any reason. Existing users would be prompted to agree to these terms, and if not their accounts would be wiped.
Re:DOJ unveils proposed Section 230 legislation by filoleg on Wednesday September 23, 2020 @05:44PM (#24572443)
Terms of use are not legally binding in case they contain something that contradicts the existing law, just like any other contracts.

For example, imagine an employer wrote an employment contract signed by all employees that said something obviously against the law, like "if you get pregnant, we are letting you go". Even though employees signed this contract, that specific clause was against the law, so there is no way to legally enforce it. If the employer tries to legally enforce it, they will be in for a rude awakening.

Another, more realistic, example. Let's say you are about to get married and decide to get a pre-nup. Both you and your partner sign it. Let's say both signed a clause that says "any future earnings made during this marriage will get split 90/10 in case of the divorce, not as a 50/50 split". If divorce actually happens, this clause will be entirely useless, despite both parties willingly signing it. Both of the people who signed it will be able to claim total 50/50 on the split, even if they initially agreed to a different split.

tl;dr: the law overrides anything one can put into their terms of use or any other contract.