Live data from Hacker News

A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

latimes.com

11–20 of 115 posts

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#11
So, what if sites only have to remove the content if it's been ruled as defamatory? If it's some dumb little thing like an immature comment on a Youtube video, no big deal. If it's something injurious like a bad review on something that matters, then yeah, should be taken down.

Am I missing something here?

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#13

So, what if sites only have to remove the content if it's been ruled as defamatory? If it's some dumb little thing like an immature comment on a Youtube video, no big deal. If it's something injurious like a bad review on something that matters, then yeah, should be taken down. Am I missing something here?

The courts might make an exception for defamatory or libelous content, or they might undermine section 230 to the extent that it no longer works well, or they might reject it entirely. If section 230 is struck down, the consequences will not be limited to defamatory or libelous content.

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#15
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say this was prior restraint. I said it could lead to prior restraint. So does the article, and so does common sense -- if companies can be hauled into court whenever someone posts libel on their sites, they will take steps to prevent such libel from being posted in the first place, e.g. by proactively moderating and filtering negative reviews. The article explicitly addresses this possibility.

Perhaps you should read the article to the end before commenting: "Glassdoor.com, which posts anonymous employee comments about companies to inform job-seekers about working conditions, says the ruling began to show up in letters demanding the removal of comments and disclosure of users’ identities almost immediately after it was handed down."

[deleted]

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#16
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say this was prior restraint. I said it could lead to prior restraint. So does the article, and so does common sense -- if companies can be hauled into court whenever someone posts libel on their sites, they will take steps to prevent such libel from being posted in the first place, e.g. by proactively moderating and filtering negative reviews. The article explicitly addresses this possibility.

Perhaps you should read the article to the end before commenting: "Glassdoor.com, which posts anonymous employee comments about companies to inform job-seekers about working conditions, says the ruling began to show up in letters demanding the removal of comments and disclosure of users’ identities almost immediately after it was handed down."

[deleted]

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#17
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you should read the article to the end before commenting: "Glassdoor.com, which posts anonymous employee comments about companies to inform job-seekers about working conditions, says the ruling began to show up in letters demanding the removal of comments and disclosure of users’ identities almost immediately after it was handed down."

This supports my point that sites can be held accountable for users' posts. It certainly does not undermine my point in any way. And I did read the entire article, and I understood it, thank you very much. You should apologize for suggesting that I did not. EDIT: nevermind, the response was in the wrong part of the thread.

Oops sorry. I commented at the wrong level: this was meant to be a response to kjksf above in the thread, trying to support your point...

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#18
post #14
post #8

We don't have section 230 in Europe yet the sky isn't falling.

Yea, all the giant European social media companies are doing fine. Oh wait, they don't exist. I wonder why.

US companies like Facebook are doing business in Europe and have users in Europe, so they're subject to EU law.

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This supports my point that sites can be held accountable for users' posts. It certainly does not undermine my point in any way. And I did read the entire article, and I understood it, thank you very much. You should apologize for suggesting that I did not. EDIT: nevermind, the response was in the wrong part of the thread.

Oops sorry. I commented at the wrong level: this was meant to be a response to kjksf above in the thread, trying to support your point...

In that case, I apologize to you.

Re: A little SF personal injury case threatens 'most important law' on the Internet

#20
I don't know why most of the comments on here, so far, are so nonchalant about this.

> Hassell sued Bird for libel and won a judgment for more than $550,000 in damages and costs, as well as an injunction ordering Bird to remove the ostensibly defamatory material from Yelp

This is fucking nuts. How can someone be sued for $550K for writing a bad yelp review.

Can someone please explain why the law allows for ridiculous damages like this.

If this is allowed, I would wipe my online identity and live in Tor permanently.

Post reply on HN