On Jan 18 2007, Jennifer Stromer-Galley wrote:
I can't help but think that My Space, like an ISP or the telephone company, is a neutral carrier of content and therefore not responsible for what happens in that space.
True in general for some activities, but not others. They will be treated somewhat differently depending on whether the claim sounds in libel, copyright, criminal pornography, or something else. They can be required to react to content on the system, but generally cannot be required to police content on the system.
For those of you who are knowledgeable about policy: Why isn't My Space viewed as a common carrier, and hence not responsible for the content that is shown on its pages?
MySpace is not a common carrier, nor are other ISPs/OSPs. They are not regulated as a common carrier, and are not required to provide services (carriage) to anyone who requests service.
Or is it, and this whole lawsuit is just, well, B.S.?
The lawsuit is largely BS. MySpace is a media distributor for First Amendment purposes, and cannot be required to screen or purge content unless they have actual knowledge that the content passing over their system. They are also almost certainly not the proximate (legal) cause of any harmful activity that occurs off-line. That is not the standard outside the U.S., BTW, since no one else has our First Amendment jurisprudence. -- Dan L. Burk Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Professor University of Minnesota Law School 229 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 ********************************** voice: 612-626-8726 fax: 612-625-2011 bits: burkx006@umn.edu