Section 230 and phx-suns.net

[Mori Chu]

Hi all, I want to mention something that is in the news recently that may affect the site. Some folks in Congress are discussing repealing Section 230, a law that governs content moderation and liability on the Internet.

NOTE: We closed the Politics area for a reason. I do not want to have a partisan political argument here or anywhere else on the site. And this thread/post is not meant as an attack on any particular politician or party. The proposal in question seems to be a bipartisan one with support from some Democrats and some Republicans.

Section 230 is a law clarifying several specifics about legal liability related to Internet sites and forums large and small, everything from a small site like phx-suns.net, to larger sites like reddit, Twitter/X, or anywhere else where users can post content. Section 230 essentially states the following:

• Site owners are not responsible for the content of posts made by users of the site: "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."
• Site owners are allowed to moderate their sites, including selective moderation, if they so choose: Site owners/mods can remove any content they "consider to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected."

If Section 230 is repealed, it would greatly increase the liability of this site's owner (myself). For example, if someone posted something inappropriate, I could be sued. If someone posted a message criticizing or saying bad things about a player, team, owner, etc., that person could sue me personally for libel. If someone posted a link that contained pirate content, I could be sued for IP infringement. And so on. Under Section 230, the person who posted such content could hypothetically be sued; without Section 230, the liability falls squarely on me.

To put it bluntly: If Section 230 is repealed, I will be forced to shut down this site. I cannot operate the site in a way that exposes me to risk of lawsuits based on the content others post. If it happens, I will suggest for others to go to other sites such as Reddit to discuss the Suns.

I hope that does not happen, so I'll keep an eye on this initiative and hope that it does not pass. Again, I do not want to start a political bickering thread; both red and blue people are involved in this one. And if you have a different view of this issue, I respect that and you are welcome to express it here in this thread. But I wanted to let people know where I stood because it could have such a big impact on the future of the site.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46751

[Furlanfufi]

Something similar was approved here in Brazil.

Then, the same people who were in favour started to have their accounts banned, because, OBVIOUSLY, the social networks won't risk being liable.

That's how democracys die.

[Kryptonic]

bummer.... and here I was thinking we were getting tickets in section 230

[TOO]

Damn.

[SunsRIt]

Let's hope it doesn't happen.

[Superbone]

bummer.... and here I was thinking we were getting tickets in section 230

Yeah, I was disappointed we weren't getting lower bowl seats. Let's hope this doesn't happen. We've been together too long not to see this out!

[virtual9mm]

Regardless how this plays out, thamk you for giving us a community all these years. Hoping it doesn't happen, obviously.

[Kryptonic]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a back-up plan in case that happens. Couldn't we theoretically just create a .net reddit forum? As I'm saying this I can already see Saucy running off to claim it as his own. LOL j/k

[Mori Chu]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a back-up plan in case that happens. Couldn't we theoretically just create a .net reddit forum? As I'm saying this I can already see Saucy running off to claim it as his own. LOL j/k

Yes, that's true, we could. Or a Discord or something. But there are already some Suns reddits and maybe already some Suns discords that we could just join. We'd figure it out.

[TOO]

I'd just fade back into obscurity, no reddit or discord for me.

[wpmiller42]

Ugh, sorry you have to worry about this. I love this site and community even though I don't post a ton. It's just silly that you have to worry about this for a site that is just a bunch of folks talking about a basketball team.

[specialsauce]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a back-up plan in case that happens. Couldn't we theoretically just create a .net reddit forum? As I'm saying this I can already see Saucy running off to claim it as his own. LOL j/k

Fuck it I'm down


This law is absurd

[Mori Chu]

Fuck it I'm down

This law is absurd

Without Section 230, I could post something like "specialsauce's mom is a woman of virtue" and could get sued for libel, because it is blatantly untrue.

[specialsauce]

Fuck it I'm down

This law is absurd

Without Section 230, I could post something like "specialsauce's mom is a woman of virtue" and could get sued for libel, because it is blatantly untrue.

Yo mamma pays me child support, because I'm her baby. You may as well pay me too, brother

[Mori Chu]

Yo mamma pays me child support, because I'm her baby. You may as well pay me too, brother

I got a man here with latent Tourette's, with a street walker for a mama and a straight up pedo as his profile pic, lecturing me about being my mama's baby. What has this site come to?

[Kryptonic]

Yo mamma pays me child support, because I'm her baby. You may as well pay me too, brother

I got a man here with latent Tourette's, with a street walker for a mama and a straight up pedo as his profile pic, lecturing me about being my mama's baby. What has this site come to?

Exibit A in the first section 230 case lol

[England Sun]

Just a random thought……..if the site was ‘hosted’ by someone out of country but ‘ran’ by someone in country would that move the liability to a country ‘not’ under those laws?

[Superbone]

Just a random thought……..if the site was ‘hosted’ by someone out of country but ‘ran’ by someone in country would that move the liability to a country ‘not’ under those laws?

I like that idea. Like keeping your money in Swiss banks or the Cayman Islands.

[Mori Chu]

Just a random thought……..if the site was ‘hosted’ by someone out of country but ‘ran’ by someone in country would that move the liability to a country ‘not’ under those laws?

I'm not really sure all the nuances of the law. I think if the person running the site and owning the site and paying for the site resides here in the USA, they're at risk. So some part of that would have to change. But if it becomes the case that we have to figure all this out, we'll learn more and figure it out. Hopefully we won't have to.