2019 was a year of Jeff Kosseff publishing Internet: Twenty-Six WordsThe definitive biography of Section 230. Section 230, a part of 1996 Communications Decency Act grants websites broad immunity from any legal action based upon user-generated material. Section 230 allowed the participation nature of the internet, including YouTube videos and Yelp reviews.This is why There are reasons can’t be sued for libelous or defamatory content posted in our comments section (though the authors of such comments can be).
Kosseff is now back at it, as he teaches cybersecurity law to the United States Naval Academy. Anonymous in the United States: The First Amendment and Online Speech. His book, his new one, examines both the history and controversy of anonymous speech activism.
Kosseff began his career as a journalist, before he became a law professor. The OregonianHe was also a finalist in the Pulitzer Prize, and won the George Polk Award. Nick Gillespie has a conversation with him on why anonymous speech is generally good but becoming more difficult to sustain, what Democrats and Republicans have to worry about over Section 233, and how his journalistic background informs his passion for protecting freedom of speech.