Section 230 of Communications Decency Act Shielded MySpace

From my classes and readings I am quite familiar with the DMCA and how it governs intellectual property online. A law that I am less familiar with, but has turned out to have an impact as well is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Last month a case was resolved in favor of MySpace on summary judgment on the basis of this law. MySpace was sued by the mother of a 13 year old girl who lied about her age to gain access to the site, and was subsequently assaulted by a 19 year old male she met through MySpace. The court cited a section of the statute that says "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." The plaintiffs said that this was not relevant, because they were faulting MySpace for its faulty screening process that permitted a 13 year old girl to get onto the site. The court didn't buy it. The court also failed to accept the plaintiff's argument that the operators of a site such as MySpace are liable for the actions of their users because they operate "virtual premises."

So here is a brief analysis of Section 230, and how it impacts IP law. First off, Congress actually states in Section (b)(3) that one of its policies is to-

“to encourage the development of technologies which maximize user control over what information is received by individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and other interactive computer services”

Unfortunately, it is pretty clear that the more latitude that is given to end users, the more copyrighted content will find its way online.
The act then goes on to say that it is not intended to limit or expand any IP law.

What I find interesting about the law is the definitions it creates for "information content provider" and "access software provider." In my paper about YouTube, one of my problems with the DMCA is the outdated definition of Internet service providers, and I proposed a new classification for websites hosting User Generated Content. Here, the definitions are-

(2) Interactive computer service

The term “interactive computer service” means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.

(3) Information content provider

The term “information content provider” means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.

and

(4) Access software provider

The term “access software provider” means a provider of software (including client or server software), or enabling tools that do any one or more of the following:

(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow content;

(B) pick, choose, analyze, or digest content; or

(C) transmit, receive, display, forward, cache, search, subset, organize, reorganize, or translate content.

What is evident is that Congress is having a really hard time defining and differentiating between the different types of entities online. The fact that the definition of interactive computer service is reliant upon the definition of access software provider (which occurs nowhere in the actual statute) just shows some really sloppy drafting.