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Should platforms be managing themselves in that way, and is that better for everyone else? With blanket immunity, law enforcement remains the responsibility of

Should platforms be managing themselves in that way, and is that better for everyone else? With blanket immunity, law enforcement remains the responsibility of government agencies that (1) we pay to do those jobs, (2) have due process requirements, and (3) have broad immunity within the confines of their job. Without blanket immunity for platforms, we're requiring them to take on law enforcement responsibilities with none of the usual protections in place. Banking secrecy and KYC laws are, I think, a great example of how consumer-hostile this can be.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
The whole problem with Section 230 is that it is neutering our law enforcement's ability to do their jobs. Your statement is based on the presumption that these tech companies aren't in any way responsible for what happens on their platform. But you're forgetting a big thing: All of these platforms are monetized in some way. These companies profit off the criminal activity that occurs on their networks, in a big way. And even if they eventually shut down the criminal conduct, guess who walks away with all the money, scot-free? Right now, tech companies have a perverse incentive to permit criminal activity. Changing the law would fix this. Consider that the reason banks have to prevent fraud is that they are responsible for fraudulent charges. Tech companies have no such responsibilities: They make money off everything, and aren't on the hook for anything. Here's an example, there was an expose on The Verge about drug rehab fraud this month. You can find it here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16257412/rehabs-near-me-google-search-scam-florida-treatment-centers https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16257412/rehabs-near-me-go... and the followup here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16309752/google-rehabs-near-me-search-adwords-crackdown https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16309752/google-rehabs-ne... Consider that in this example, Google makes as much as $230 per click. That's a lot of benefit for them to permit fraud, and there's more than enough information in the article to be sure that Google is definitely aware of the problem and that it continues despite their lackluster automated prevention attempts. Considering one rehab company says in the second article they spend "millions per year" on Google ads, we can probably conservatively guess that Google makes at least eight figures on this one particular brand of fraud. Google has no incentive to stop it, and they enjoy blanket immunity from responsibility for it. Right now, the only jurisdiction with a say over these platforms appears to be the court of public opinion: Because bad press is the only thing that can encourage these companies to modify their behavior. Thanks to The Verge, Google is going to take reasonable steps, like having real humans verify the ads in this category in the future. And they still walk away with all the money they made off of that fraud. Money that led people straight into these criminal enterprises rather than the legitimate search results below. At the very least, shouldn't the victims be able to come after the profits Google made on this enterprise?

ocdtrekkie 9y ago

The whole problem with Section 230 is that it is neutering our law enforcement's ability to do their jobs. Your statement is based on the presumption that these tech companies aren't in any way responsible for what happens on their platform. But you're forgetting a big thing: All of these platforms are monetized in some way. These companies profit off the criminal activity that occurs on their networks, in a big way. And even if they eventually shut down the criminal conduct, guess who walks away with all the money, scot-free? Right now, tech companies have a perverse incentive to permit criminal activity. Changing the law would fix this. Consider that the reason banks have to prevent fraud is that they are responsible for fraudulent charges. Tech companies have no such responsibilities: They make money off everything, and aren't on the hook for anything. Here's an example, there was an expose on The Verge about drug rehab fraud this month. You can find it here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16257412/rehabs-near-me-google-search-scam-florida-treatment-centers https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16257412/rehabs-near-me-go... and the followup here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16309752/google-rehabs-near-me-search-adwords-crackdown https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16309752/google-rehabs-ne... Consider that in this example, Google makes as much as $230 per click. That's a lot of benefit for them to permit fraud, and there's more than enough information in the article to be sure that Google is definitely aware of the problem and that it continues despite their lackluster automated prevention attempts. Considering one rehab company says in the second article they spend "millions per year" on Google ads, we can probably conservatively guess that Google makes at least eight figures on this one particular brand of fraud. Google has no incentive to stop it, and they enjoy blanket immunity from responsibility for it. Right now, the only jurisdiction with a say over these platforms appears to be the court of public opinion: Because bad press is the only thing that can encourage these companies to modify their behavior. Thanks to The Verge, Google is going to take reasonable steps, like having real humans verify the ads in this category in the future. And they still walk away with all the money they made off of that fraud. Money that led people straight into these criminal enterprises rather than the legitimate search results below. At the very least, shouldn't the victims be able to come after the profits Google made on this enterprise?