@funbobby51 I don't object to the STATED objective of the code. Putting content control into the hands of users is important. Being able to block offensive content and chronically abusive users, like trolls, is good for the public.
What I do object to the ACTUAL use of social media platforms and user data to perform surveillance and censorship of content. The tools SUPPOSEDLY intended for personal management of content feeds have been repurposed by the government. We all know about the NSA, Five Eyes, Echelon and the thousands of government contracts awarded to scan internet traffic, private or public, on behalf of the DOD.
The reimbursement is a reward. The full text of Section 230 provides immunity to "interactive computer services", i.e. social media platforms and "information content providers", i.e. bloggers, for example, from litigation for content that is legitimately found to be illegal. The programming required to enable a user to block offensive content and users has nothing whatsoever to do with algorithms that scan content data, sort it, label it and report it, as per the law enforcement objectives stated in Section 229.
We, the people, can block without the surveillance and censorship automation on social media platforms and the internet in general.
The surveillance, data collection, storage and analysis has no value to users. However, these tools enable social platforms a means to generate a revenue stream from advertisers and researchers. So, social media platforms have a FREE MARKET incentive to build surveillance and data aggregation reporting into their platform - value added advertising for businesses. It is to their advantage to build these tools and there is no reason for the government to reimburse them for doing so, because there is already a business incentive for investing in data aggregation for the purpose of target marketing services to advertising businesses. The foundation procedures for this business object have been hijacked to facilitate law enforcement objective from the federal government - NSA, CIA, FBI, DOD, DOJ, IRS, etc.
Section 229 is all about reimbursing for law enforcement enhancements, which are not necessary in a free society. In the same way that criminals on the streets are reported to local police, mechanisms for individuals to report criminal behavior online could have been implemented, with hotlines, public education announcements and WANTED posts by police using these platforms like any other user. Online surveillance is not essential to law enforcement.
Can you think of any example when online surveillance has been exclusively attributed with preventing crime or apprehending criminals WITHOUT alerts coming from individuals?
If the product is free you are the product.
That's very good, I wouldn't want to get sued because I reposted something that turned out to be illegal. But that is for social media services to protect them from being sued because some one posted something illegal, that would put them all out of business if they were liable for every idiot thing someone posted on their site.
To your first point, absolutely! Your online behavioral data is what you give in exchange for use of the platform. That's the contractual agreement users make with service/platform. We also have the right to re-negotiate those terms, or just leave the platform. It's a somewhat different matter with ISPs and OSs. We could move to Linux or switch ISPs, but there are monopolies of providers - if we're lucky, we have 2 ISPs serving our region - and the OS options are limited too.
Here's a situation to be aware of: I run Win10. The apps it installs automatically have rights to continuously run in the background, use our cams and mics, access our pics, our account info, our contacts, docs...That's just Edge, the browser. I disabled a number of apps a few weeks ago after finding that Skype had - all on its own, transmitted 6.3 MB of data over my network over a period of 3 hours and 42 minutes within the month of August alone. I NEVER use Skype.
To your second point, bloggers, whose posts receive unlawful or offensive comments are also not liable for those comments. The way the law code is written, users have the right to decide to delete or hide comments. The way it actually works, the platforms are overriding bloggers' rights to manage comment content visibility.
Over the past couple of years, Google has been shadow banning, using spam flagging. YT channel hosts weren't aware of it, but a simple count of comments, compared to the total shown at the top of the comment section, revealed it. In any situation that I found, the comments weren't criminal or offensive. On my own comments, logged in, I would see them. Logged out, they'd be hidden. The way we're discussing now, is the way I usually write, so...?
I put a piece of cardboard over my camera, windows 10 is a virus.
Even Zuckerberg puts tape over his cam. I uses green painter's tape. Looks like a green-screen in a studio from the cam's pov. I can also see when the cam light comes on.
Yah, Win10 is a virus. Just had it reset to default and reinstall an app today. If you set to always ask for permission, you can see just how sneaky Win10 is. Mr. Gates Genocide is the virus, really.
internet explorer related murder rates are way down.
IE murder rates? What's that?