U.S. authorities fighting human trafficking have identified the Communications Decency Act as an obstacle to stopping the crime. Anti-trafficking groups agree. Free speech proponents beg to differ, though. So does Silicon Valley.
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article showing both sides of the issue. “Is Backpage.com a Champion of Web Freedoms or a ‘Dystopian Hell’?”, by John. D. McKinnon, illustrates its complexity. The Communications Decency Act, a law passed in 1996, is the main reason why little can be removed from the Internet in the U.S.
As the Journal article points out, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com are among the tech companies that benefit from the Communications Decency Act.
We have written extensively about how the Communications Decency Act impacts online reputation management. If that is a topic of interest to you, then you will find Mr. McKinnon’s article illuminating.