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I’m not an expert, but: Can’t common carriers discriminate if there’s compelling reason? Like, a railway can refuse to carry a passenger if they’re disruptive t
by 542458 7y ago
I’m not an expert, but: Can’t common carriers discriminate if there’s compelling reason? Like, a railway can refuse to carry a passenger if they’re disruptive to others. My ISP can cut me off if I’m running DDOS attacks. Is there any reason a (common) phone carrier shouldn’t be able to refuse service to a call that they believe is illegal in nature?
- AmericanChopper 7y agoThey can, but if you make them liable for bad actors then you immediately force them to implement very heavy restrictions on what they carry. For instance if HN didn’t enjoy common carrier liability protections then user submitted links and comments would be pretty much impossible to implement (they’d all need to go through a moderation queue).
- TylerE 7y agoWebsites are not common carriers. You’re thinking of the DMCA Safe Harbor provision, maybe.
- AmericanChopper 7y agoSection 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants common carrier liability protections to websites that publish user generated content. You’re right that they’re not common carriers (because they are in fact allowed to discriminate in any way they choose), but I was exclusively referring to the liability protections they are afforded by the law.