I’ve been saying it here for years, and I’ve actually heard a few politicians finally say something close to it within the last year (Nunes for one, but he didn’t seem concise on it), but it seems like almost everyone including our politicians are missing the boat on this one. Especially our politicians.
Laws must be passed to force these digital platforms to choose, and to declare themselves EITHER a “service provider” or a “publisher”.
Service providers will not have the right to censor the communication and content of their USERS unless it explicitly breaks the law. None of this ambiguous and subjective TOS and EULA. They should be bound by law to provide access to all. Similarly, they will not be able to discriminate on who is permitted access and who is removed. Like the telephone company, or an energy utility.
Publishers, while perhaps not generating all of their own content and allowing members and associates to do so, will be permitted editorial, discretionary, and even censorship rights over what is published. However, they will NOT be protected from liability over their content. This is for obvious reasons. If they are permitted editorial control over what is published, they are actually even quite responsible for it. The service providers should get greater legal protection over theirs though.
This is not rocket science. I have no clue why this isn’t law.
Exactly.
This is not rocket science. I have no clue why this isnt law.
Because the existing system best serves the interests and preferences of the mega corporate tech oligarchies.