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Do you seriously think it's the responsibility of the service provider to make sure its users don't engage in any potentially illegal activities? These service

Do you seriously think it's the responsibility of the service provider to make sure its users don't engage in any potentially illegal activities? These services are simply glorified communication tools, and limiting what people can communicate with them is limiting free speech.

crdoconnor 13y ago
>Do you seriously think it's the responsibility of the service provider to make sure its users don't engage in any potentially illegal activities? If the illegal activity is "using their system as it was intended" then they have a degree of responsibility, yes. They should at the very least provide a warning to users in quebec that they need to pay the $250 or they will be in violation of the law by using the airbnb website. This does not seem like a particularly onerous thing to implement (10 lines of code?), either, and any judge reviewing a case against them would likely bear this in mind. If they were small and did not have many hosts in quebec I doubt it would be an issue. They are clearly not any more, however.
- dantheman 13y ago
  10 lines of code for every city, county, state, etc? And keeping it up to date will be easy too right?
  - crdoconnor 13y ago
    >10 lines of code for every city, county, state, etc? And keeping it up to date will be easy too right? For every city, country and state that has special rules about renting, yes. If they really don't want to participate in a particular market, they can let their competitors serve it instead. And no, it's not especially difficult.
Nursie 13y ago
So the Silk Road is doing nothing illegal in your mind?
- noarchy 13y ago
  What is illegal is objectively-defined by looking at the law. That doesn't mean that you agree with said laws, or mind them being ignored. This is where things like civil disobedience come into play, though I am not going to make such an argument for AirBnb because it isn't really my fight. It may be for others, though.
Spooky23 13y ago
When it's not incidental, yes.

crdoconnor 13y ago

>Do you seriously think it's the responsibility of the service provider to make sure its users don't engage in any potentially illegal activities? If the illegal activity is "using their system as it was intended" then they have a degree of responsibility, yes. They should at the very least provide a warning to users in quebec that they need to pay the $250 or they will be in violation of the law by using the airbnb website. This does not seem like a particularly onerous thing to implement (10 lines of code?), either, and any judge reviewing a case against them would likely bear this in mind. If they were small and did not have many hosts in quebec I doubt it would be an issue. They are clearly not any more, however.

dantheman 13y ago
10 lines of code for every city, county, state, etc? And keeping it up to date will be easy too right?
- crdoconnor 13y ago
  >10 lines of code for every city, county, state, etc? And keeping it up to date will be easy too right? For every city, country and state that has special rules about renting, yes. If they really don't want to participate in a particular market, they can let their competitors serve it instead. And no, it's not especially difficult.

Nursie 13y ago

So the Silk Road is doing nothing illegal in your mind?

noarchy 13y ago
What is illegal is objectively-defined by looking at the law. That doesn't mean that you agree with said laws, or mind them being ignored. This is where things like civil disobedience come into play, though I am not going to make such an argument for AirBnb because it isn't really my fight. It may be for others, though.

Spooky23 13y ago

When it's not incidental, yes.