4 ms·

If I wanted to start a media hosting service for me and my community (_local, only within an N-block radius of my hosting device_), who would you expect to be h

If I wanted to start a media hosting service for me and my community (_local, only within an N-block radius of my hosting device_), who would you expect to be held liable if the hard drives associated with that device held something illegal in those N-blocks?

brimble 5y ago
If you were also publishing those files to the entire world, changing the formatting to suit your site's needs & branding, algorithmically selecting the pieces of media that draw "engagement" and preferentially putting those in front of people, burying others, and also publishing ads alongside all that, I'd not hesitate a bit to say that you should be, at least in large part. Facebook's a magazine publisher at massive scale, that relies on worst-in-class submission and acceptance processes to make money. They're not in the file storage business.
- beardedetim 5y ago
  Are you saying that if _any one of those_ things isn't true that it's _not my responsibility_ for the bits on that machine? I am losing the thread here a bit and am not clear on what you are trying to say or how you're answering my question. Apologies.
  - brimble 5y ago
    I'm saying that I don't think "file storage service for locals" is even in the same product category as what Facebook does, even putting scale aside. They're an ad-supported publisher with extremely lax standards. A file storage, or even file sharing, service, isn't necessarily that, and it would take several steps to bridge that gap and travel from "not at all comparable to Facebook", through "grey area", and into "OK, now we're talking about something pretty similar to Facebook (and to Twitter, et c.)".
    - beardedetim 5y ago
      For sure agree these are totally different and the space between them vast! I was asking directly about a specific use-case so that I can better understand your perspective on who is responsible for the bits stored on a hard drive.
      - brimble 5y ago
        Ah, cool. I think of a file storage service more like a bank safe deposit box: you have rules, and there are laws, someone breaks them and you find out (or the cops do) that's on them. No-one expects you to carefully search every box (indeed, they'd likely be upset if you did) and you're not responsible if something illegal is put in there that you couldn't reasonably have known about (like, if someone tells you they're gonna put illegal shit in there, then you would have a responsibility to, at least, deny them service, but you're not expected to crack open the box after they leave and poke around for rule and law violations).

brimble 5y ago

If you were also publishing those files to the entire world, changing the formatting to suit your site's needs & branding, algorithmically selecting the pieces of media that draw "engagement" and preferentially putting those in front of people, burying others, and also publishing ads alongside all that, I'd not hesitate a bit to say that you should be, at least in large part. Facebook's a magazine publisher at massive scale, that relies on worst-in-class submission and acceptance processes to make money. They're not in the file storage business.

beardedetim 5y ago
Are you saying that if _any one of those_ things isn't true that it's _not my responsibility_ for the bits on that machine? I am losing the thread here a bit and am not clear on what you are trying to say or how you're answering my question. Apologies.
- brimble 5y ago
  I'm saying that I don't think "file storage service for locals" is even in the same product category as what Facebook does, even putting scale aside. They're an ad-supported publisher with extremely lax standards. A file storage, or even file sharing, service, isn't necessarily that, and it would take several steps to bridge that gap and travel from "not at all comparable to Facebook", through "grey area", and into "OK, now we're talking about something pretty similar to Facebook (and to Twitter, et c.)".
  - beardedetim 5y ago
    For sure agree these are totally different and the space between them vast! I was asking directly about a specific use-case so that I can better understand your perspective on who is responsible for the bits stored on a hard drive.
    - brimble 5y ago
      Ah, cool. I think of a file storage service more like a bank safe deposit box: you have rules, and there are laws, someone breaks them and you find out (or the cops do) that's on them. No-one expects you to carefully search every box (indeed, they'd likely be upset if you did) and you're not responsible if something illegal is put in there that you couldn't reasonably have known about (like, if someone tells you they're gonna put illegal shit in there, then you would have a responsibility to, at least, deny them service, but you're not expected to crack open the box after they leave and poke around for rule and law violations).