I. Logistics

A. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/polling

B. Rotisserie

C. Cold-caller

II. Today: “Getting between you and where you want to go”

III. Ken Zeran

A. If you’re Ken, what to do when AOL doesn’t act fast enough for you?

1. Complain to AOL employees via phone.

2. Post a message on AOL.

· More speech.

· Message board “cops” might be able to help.

· “Cops” are volunteers and might be better able to help than AOL’s employees (investigate headers of AOL message board).

3. Get listed on “list of hoaxes” page. Or otherwise get more publicity in the press.

· (But what if you don’t want more publicity?)

4. Sue.

· Libel.

· Subpoena.

5. Give up. Change phone number.

· But same problem could happen again?

6. Ask talk show host to make a correction.

7. Some of each.

B. Broader thoughts.

1. Two lawsuits resulted. Zeran vs AOL and KRXO.

2. The real fix: Require users to identify themselves, and enforce this requirement.

3. Real problem is the assumption that people always tell the truth. People need to learn that this is not the case on today’s Internet.

4. AOL’s billing system (credit cards) means they do basically know who posts what. Need to decide who has the right to check these records.

5. Typical law classes would focus on liability, not on fixing the underlying problem.

6. What did AOL do wrong here? Perhaps not so serious.

7. Good arguments on both side. Welcome to law school.

8. Require AOL to act more quickly when it receives such a comment.

· How to verify complaints?

9. Real problem is the inclusion of his phone number (more so than his name).

· So problem is personally-identifiable info.

· AOL might need to change its corporate structure to improve performance.

C. Caselaw before Zeran

1. Libel

2. “I’m just the middleman” defense – generally applicable to booksellers but not publishers.

· Have to think through which best maps to AOL. Maybe AOL is like a paper-manufacturer (i.e. like a bookseller).

· But AOL has complete control over its “electronic paper” at all times. Not like paper. So they need to take action when notified of a problem.

· So does AOL need to screen its content for copyright infringements?

IV. PORN

A. Start of Internet deployment to homes and schools. Search engines help kids stumble on porn. For many, online porn is “more diverse” and easier to find than real-world porn.

B. What can a legislator do?

1. CDA. Filtering. Fines to anyone who sends porn pictures to anyone known to be a kid. OK to send porn to anyone with a credit card. Producers of content are to be liable, but middlemen not.

· Odd twists: Drudge liable but AOL not for Drudge’s defamatory content that AOL purchases and redistributes.

2. Points of interference resulting from Internet architecture & design (“bucket brigade”).

3. Point of interference at browser itself. PICS. Web site filtering according to self-ratings.

· Flawed. Many sites do not self-rate. Centralized ratings are often in error.

4. Copyright. DMCA. Napster. Can’t go after the source (a teenager; too hard to go after). Want to go after middleman. Safe harbor for middlemen who take down material that is claimed to be infringing.

· Even Harvard gets notice-and-takedown requests (resulting from student postings of TV shows and music).