Currently reading "26 Words that Changed the Internet" which is about the legal battles in the 1990s over liability for publishing defamatory/obscene/illegal content that led to the words of Section 230:
"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."
It's fascinating to see the parallels from 30 years ago to the Bitcoin Puritan movement of today. Hilariously enough, one of the common arguments by conservatives in the 1990s was that if we allowed the internet to be flooded with pornographic content, it would kill adoption and people would stop using the internet. 😅
It's generally agreed that Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 is what allowed the internet as we know it to flourish by protecting freedom of speech in cyberspace. I dare say that these 26 words are also what protect node runners in America from having to worry about legal liability from distributing obscene content.
In short, if you're a content distributor you are not liable for distributing obscene content if you are unaware of it. And distributors are NOT expected to police or moderate the information that flows through their service as a result of user interaction.
Jameson Lopp
npub17u…wt4tp
2026-06-10 09:18:29 UTC
Author Public Key
npub17u5dneh8qjp43ecfxr6u5e9sjamsmxyuekrg2nlxrrk6nj9rsyrqywt4tpPublished at
2026-06-10 09:18:29 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "c8e802d51b7ae8ea253d63d9911d6c81a613ebac47c24f69c28443c7e917a9a8",
"pubkey": "f728d9e6e7048358e70930f5ca64b097770d989ccd86854fe618eda9c8a38106",
"created_at": 1781083109,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"alt",
"A short note: Currently reading \"26 Words that Changed the Inter..."
],
[
"client",
"Amethyst"
]
],
"content": "Currently reading \"26 Words that Changed the Internet\" which is about the legal battles in the 1990s over liability for publishing defamatory/obscene/illegal content that led to the words of Section 230:\n\n\"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.\"\n\nIt's fascinating to see the parallels from 30 years ago to the Bitcoin Puritan movement of today. Hilariously enough, one of the common arguments by conservatives in the 1990s was that if we allowed the internet to be flooded with pornographic content, it would kill adoption and people would stop using the internet. 😅\n\nIt's generally agreed that Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 is what allowed the internet as we know it to flourish by protecting freedom of speech in cyberspace. I dare say that these 26 words are also what protect node runners in America from having to worry about legal liability from distributing obscene content.\n\nIn short, if you're a content distributor you are not liable for distributing obscene content if you are unaware of it. And distributors are NOT expected to police or moderate the information that flows through their service as a result of user interaction.",
"sig": "8ea04a7eea729a8c1a8a64fbcb02457a87ac7e5c953e3d46482e6df0eadb2ae0ff81c9977fed992e12ce823c94294344796a1896216a093dd9a736742d21fcbe"
}