Ohio v. Google: Common Carriers Aren’t as Common as You Think
Plus age verification, Big Tech in Congress, AI and elections, and more…
Ohio v. Google: Corbin filed a brief in Ohio v. Google, a lawsuit which seeks to have the Google search engine declared a common carrier. Search engines rank data, meaning they don’t take traffic indiscriminately. They also enjoy the protections of the First Amendment. “This case is, at root, a political stunt,” he opined.
Age Verification: Age verification usually fails to deliver what it promises, and it’s also unconstitutional. But might it still work in app stores? Berin’s latest Substack post details why not—age verification doesn’t work any better there, either. It’s the same unreliable, uncheckable process.
Kids’ Safety: Ari live tweeted the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” explaining why the First Amendment imposes a very high bar for speech-based liability. Shortly after the hearing, he was quoted in the Washington Post and iTech Post.
AI: On Substack, Ari looked at AI deepfakes as yet another instance of technopanic: “Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is the latest technological stop on the Freakout Express, and boy has it has given us a lot to lose our collective minds about.”
Fast Company also mentioned Ari’s recent congressional testimony in a story on AI deepfakes and election law.
Antitrust: On the latest episode of our Rethinking Antitrust podcast, Bilal presented a discussion, recorded in October 2021, on whether the FTC has the authority to issue competition rules.
Events: If you’re interested in more about AI and election law, join Ari for a virtual event at the University of North Carolina Center on Technology Policy on Monday, February 5.
Ari will be moderating a discussion about frivolous lawsuits aimed at stopping free speech with recent celebrity defendant Kathy Griffin at the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law (advanced registration required) in Santa Barbara, CA.
We know the difference between search engines and railroads. Do the courts?