Don’t Gut Section 230
Plus FTC comments, thoughts on digital surveillance, and our first webinar of the year
Section 230: Corbin’s amicus brief in Google v. Gonzalez urged the Supreme Court to rule—in line with all federal appellate courts that have considered the question—that Section 230 protects algorithmic recommendations of third-party content. The brief also was quoted in Radio+Television Business Report.
Child Protection: We filed comments urging the FTC to dismiss a Petition for Rulemaking that would prohibit design practices commonly used across digital media and games. Ostensibly targeted at minors, the proposed rule would make content providers either curtail their services to everyone—or implement universal age verification.
Webinar: Next Tuesday, January 24 at 2:00pm ET, Bilal will host a discussion on the analysis of mergers involving potential and nascent competitors, and whether and how the merger guidelines might be revised to more directly address mergers that may affect future competition.
Surveillance: Corbin’s latest piece in The Bulwark discusses whether the Fourth Amendment can survive digital surveillance.
Legal Foundations: Corbin’s latest essay in Law & Liberty reviews the life of Richard Posner, known for his pioneering work on law and economics during his time as a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017.
FTC: At this month’s FTC Open Meeting, Bilal recommended the agency distribute a “collusion reporting form,” and Berin discussed how Section 5 doesn’t empower the FTC to decide such major questions as whether America should fundamentally change its approach to data governance (skip to 7:28).
Bilal also wrote a separate Twitter thread on why the FTC and DoJ should lift their suspension of grants of early termination.
Free Speech: In Techdirt, Ari and Corbin thoroughly debunked the notion that the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will fight for free speech on the Internet.
Hate Speech: In response to a bill purporting to be about hate crimes, Ari explained in Based Politics that the bill goes far beyond hate crimes and in fact would criminalize lawful-but-awful speech in violation of the First Amendment.
Anti-SLAPP Laws: In an interview with the Texas Observer about a wild and politically charged defamation lawsuit, Ari was quoted on the purpose and benefits of anti-SLAPP laws, and how they prevent powerful people from silencing their critics through frivolous litigation.
FEC: The New York Sun quoted comments Ari and Berin filed last week to the Federal Election Commission, which urged the FEC to proceed with extreme caution when regulating online speech and explained why the proposed regulations threaten the free exchange of political speech.