Re:Repealing Section 230 won’t do what anyone wants
by temp8964 on Sunday March 14, 2021 @11:21PM
(#26462292)
I don't find it unreasonable to ask website / BBS owner to be responsible for content on their website.
I don't remember BBSs constantly got sued in the old days.
Re:Repealing Section 230 won’t do what anyone wants
by giantrobot on Monday March 15, 2021 @06:07PM
(#26469863)
A BBS in the days of yore didn't have deep pockets for anyone to go after. They did however get sued or taken down for copyright issues and other content. There's the infamous case of the Secret Service raiding the offices of Steve Jackson Games [0] over content that was in an upcoming book for the GURPS role playing game [1].
[0] https://www.eff.org/cases/steve-jackson-games-v-secret-servi...
BBS operators would be equally responsible, and won't run BBSes. Same with chat rooms and IRC channels — their operators could be sued, so they won't run anything like that for public service.
Of course, a web forum could still be run over Tor, hiding the webmaster and the participants. There would be no one to sue, so whatever inflammatory content were on such a forum, it would stay unless the moderators cared.
If the point is to stifle the public discussion and push it underground, then removing the protection of operators from liability for UGC is the way to go.