Name: California League of Cities Should Reject Misguided Section 230 Resolution
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California League of Cities Should Reject Misguided Section 230 Resolution

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Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe past few months have seen of to undermine Section 230, the law that makes a free Internet possible. But now we’re seeing one from a surprising place: the California League of Cities.To be clear, the League of Cities, an association of city officials from around the state, doesn’t have the power to change or any other federal law. But if Congress were to actually follow their lead, the policies that the League is considering approving would be disastrous for the freedom of California residents.Section 230 states that websites and online services can’t be sued or prosecuted based on content created by their users. This is based on the simple fact that you are responsible for your own speech online.This week, the League will consider a proposed by the city of Cerritos, which would effectively force website owners, large or small, to surveil their sites and remove content that “solicits criminal activity.” If they don’t, they would lose Section 230 protections and be exposed to civil suits, as well as state-level criminal prosecutions, for their users’ misdeeds. The resolution goes further, requiring websites and apps to help police with the “identification and apprehension” of people deemed (by the police) to be soliciting crime of any kind.The Cerritos proposal is based on a crime that never happened. According to the , Cerritos police responded to an anonymous posting on Instagram, inviting followers to “work together to loot Cerritos [M]all.” Nothing happened, but the city of Cerritos has now asked the League to endorse dramatic changes to federal law in order to give police vast new powers.If the vague allegation that a website was used by city residents to "solicit criminal activity" is enough to expose that website to prosecutions and lawsuits, it will result in widespread Internet censorship. If Congress were to pass such an amendment to Section 230, it would provide a lever for government officials to eliminate protest and rally organizing via social media. Online platforms would be coerced into performing police surveillance of residents in cities throughout California. That’s the last thing we need during a year when millions of Americans have taken to the streets protesting police abuses.Two California League of Cities committees have considered and passed the resolution, despite considerable opposition. On Sept. 29, the League’s Public Safety Committee met and passed the resolution by an 19-18 vote. EFF spoke at those committee meetings and delivered a letter [] expressing our opposition to committee members.If California municipalities want to weigh in on Internet regulation that will have national ramifications, they should do so in a way that benefits their residents—like legislation that could , or .Instead, the City of Cerritos and a few allies are urging the League to ask for a new type of Internet. It would be one in which their own residents are under constant surveillance online, and local newspapers and blogs would have to either close their online discussion sections, or patrol them for behavior that might offend local police.We hope League members vote against this resolution, and send Congress a message that Californians want an Internet that respects users’ rights—not one focused on doing the police’s work for them.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Share ItThe dangerous EARN IT Act passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, and now it’s been in the House of Representatives. We need your help to stop this anti-speech, anti-security bill. Email your elected officials in...EFF is standing with a huge coalition of organizations to urge Congress to oppose the Online Content Policy Modernization Act (OCPMA, ). Introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the OCPMA is yet another of this year’s flood of misguided attacks on Internet speech (). The...The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) joined together to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the government to obtain records showing whether federal agencies have cut their advertising on social media as part of President Trump’s broad attack on speech-hosting websites he...Special thanks to legal intern Ross Ufberg, who was lead author of this post. A group of organizations and individuals are continuing their fight to overturn the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, known as FOSTA, arguing that the law violates the Constitution in multiple respects...Recently, EFF joined the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and 26 other organizations to send a to the Senate opposing the EARN IT Act (S. 3398), asking that the Senate oppose fast tracking the bill, and to vote NO on passage of the bill. As we have...The Senate Commerce Committee’s Tuesday on the PACT Act and Section 230 was a refreshingly substantive bipartisan discussion about the thorny issues related to how online platforms moderate user content, and to what extent these companies should be held liable for harmful user content. The hearing brought into...Recently, nearly every week brings a new effort to undercut or overhaul a key U.S. law—47 U.S.C. § 230 (“Section 230”)—that protects online services and allows Internet users to express themselves. Many of these proposals jeopardize users’ , while others are thinly-veiled attacks against online services...Whether we know it or not, all Internet users rely on multiple online services to connect, engage, and express themselves online. That means we also rely on 47 U.S.C. § 230 (“Section 230”), which provides important legal protections when platforms offer their services to the public and when they moderate...Over the last few months, the EARN IT Act, a bill that would have disastrous consequences for free speech and security online, has gained thousands of critics. and have been joined by , online platforms, ...This is one of a series of blog posts about President Trump's May 28 Executive Order. Other posts can be found , and .The inaptly named (EO) seeks to insert the federal government into private Internet...Share It

Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe past few months have seen of to undermine Section 230, the law that makes a free Internet possible. But now we’re seeing one from a surprising place: the California League of Cities.To be clear, the League of Cities, an association of city officials from around the state, doesn’t have the power to change or any other federal law. But if Congress were to actually follow their lead, the policies that the League is considering approving would be disastrous for the freedom of California residents.Section 230 states...

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Joe Mullin

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California League of Cities Should Reject Misguided Section 230 Resolution

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