Immunity for Internet Intermediaries

Scope

 * Use this page to list sources related to Section 230 immunity under the Communications Decency Act or similar issues internationally about holding internet service providers liable or immune for the material provided by their users. Sources related to notice and takedown under the DMCA Safe Harbors or related to Copyright Liability for Internet Intermediaries are covered elsewhere.

News / Editorial

 * Paul Alan Levy, Courts address a section 230 question that seems hard at first blush– what happens after a defamation plaintiff wins against the poster?, Consumer Law and Policy Blog (Dec. 30, 2010).
 * Greg Sandoval, Viacom: Google used piracy to coerce content owners, CNET News (Apr. 15, 2010).
 * Author not listed, Italian judge contends Google sought profit from bullying video, Siliconvalley.com (Apr. 12, 2010).
 * Jeff Neuburger, Barnes v. Yahoo! Opinion on Remand a Caution to Web Site Operators: Don't Let Employees Make Promises that They Can't Keep, New Media and Technology Law Blog (Dec. 17, 2009).
 * Danny O'Brien, The Google Three: Italy's Personal Attack on Intermediary Liability, Electronic Frontier Foundation (Feb. 27, 2010).
 * Nate Anderson, The ACTA Internet Provisions: DMCA Goes Worldwide, ars technica (Nov. 8, 2009).
 * John Bergmayer, ACTA Makes ISPs an Offer They Can't Refuse, Public Knowledge (Feb. 22, 2010).
 * Eric Sylvers and Eric Pfanner, Italian Court Rules That Google Violated Privacy, New York Times (Feb.24, 2010).
 * Jon Newton, P2pnet wins precedent-setting Crookes appeal, P2pnet News (Sep. 16, 2009).
 * Jacqui Cheng, Don't like the result of vanity searches? Don't sue Yahoo, Ars Technica (Sep. 2, 2009).
 * Mark Sweeney, Google not liable for defamation in search results, rules high court, The Guardian (Jul. 20, 2009).
 * Jacqui Cheng, Assaulted by someone you met online? Don't sue the website, Ars Technica (Jul. 2, 2009).
 * John Timmer, Google India: we have zero control over Blogger content, Ars Technica (Jun. 23, 2009).
 * Court rules that Heise is immediately liable for reader comments, Heise Online (Dec. 6, 2005).

Circuit Courts

 * Johnson v. Arden, 2010 WL 3023660 (8th Cir. Aug. 4, 2010).
 * Tiffany v. eBay, No. 08-3947 (2nd Cir. Apr. 1, 2010) (holding that eBay is not liable for infringing merchandise sold on website, where protections were put in place to prevent the conduct).
 * Nemet Chevrolet Ltd. v. ConsumerAffairs.com, Inc., No. 08-2097 (4th Cir. Dec. 29, 2009) (affirming the district court’s dismissal on 12(b)(6) grounds; the plaintiff auto dealer failed to show the business rating website was an information provider and not covered by CDA immunity).
 * FTC v. Accusearch Inc., No. 08-8003, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 14480 (10th Cir. Jun. 29, 2009) (finding that a website that encourages third parties to provide illegal information to post on its site was an information provider and ineligible for CDA immunity).
 * Zango, Inc. v. Kaspersky Lab, Inc., No. 07-35800 (9th Cir. Jun. 25, 2009).
 * Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., No. 05-36189 (9th Cir. Jun. 22, 2009).
 * Chi. Lawyers' Comm. for Civ. Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc., 519 F.3d 666 (7th Cir. 2008).
 * Doe v. MySpace, Inc., 528 F.3d 413 (5th Cir. 2008).
 * Doe v. SexSearch.com, 502 F.Supp.2d 719 (N.D. Ohio 2007) affd. 551 F.3d 412 (6th Cir. 2008).
 * Doe v. GTE Corp., 347 F.3d 655 (7th Cir. 2003).
 * Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003).
 * Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997).

District Courts

 * Novins v. Cannon, 3:09-cv-05354 (D. N.J. Apr. 27, 2010) (230 immunized all manner of republishers in online defamation suit).
 * Collins v. Purdue University, 2010 WL 1250916 (N.D. Ind. Mar, 24, 2010).
 * Barnes v. Yahoo, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116274 (D. Ore. Dec. 8, 2009) (Denial of Yahoo's motion to dismiss on remand from 9th Circuit).
 * Doctor's Assoc., Inc. v. QIP Holder LLC, No. 06-01710 (D. Conn. Feb. 19, 2010) (whether Quiznos was responsible for creating or developing the contestant videos where it promoted a user-created video contest asking patrons to compare them to Subway is an issue of material fact, best submitted to the jury).
 * Blockowicz v. Williams, 09-03955 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 21, 2009) (Injunction against poster of defamatory content could not be enforced against internet site hosting the content where site was not acting in concert with the enjoined party).
 * Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., No. 09-1385 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2009) (dismissing on 47 U.S.C. 230 grounds the County Sheriff's lawsuit against Craigslist for inducing prostitution postings by creating the Craigslist's erotic services category).
 * Riggs v. MySpace, No. 09-03073 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 17, 2009).
 * Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc., No. 09-116 (E.D. Wisc. Aug. 28, 2009) (plaintiff's failure to commercialize identity led to dismissal of her false endorsement Lanham Act claim and thus court relinquished jurisdiction over state law misappropriation and right of publicity claims, discussing but not reaching unsettled CDA issues).
 * Cornelius v. DeLuca, 2009 WL 2568044 (E.D. Mo. Aug. 18, 2009).
 * Goddard v. Google, Inc., No. 08-02738 (N.D. Cal. Jul. 30, 2009) (plaintiff who clicked on AdWords ads and entered her cell phone number on fraudulent sites could not artfully plead around section 230 in effort to hold Google liable for fraudulent sites' conduct and amended complaint was dismissed with prejudice).
 * Gibson v. Craigslist, Inc., No. 08-CV-07735 (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 15, 2009).
 * Doe v. MySpace, Inc., No. 08-140, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43411, 2009 WL 1457170 (E.D. Tex. May 22, 2009).
 * Atlantic Recording Corp. v. Project Playlist Inc., 603 F. Supp. 2d 690 (S.D.N.Y. 2009).
 * Raggi v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept., 2009 WL 653000 (D. Nev. Mar. 10, 2009).
 * Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., 2009 WL 596582 (D. Ariz. Mar. 9, 2009).
 * GW Equity LLC v. Xcentric Ventures LLC, No. 07-976, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1445, 2009 WL 62168 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 9, 2009).
 * Alvi Armani Medical, Inc. v. Hennessey, 2008 WL 5971233 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 9, 2008).
 * Best Western International, Inc. v. Furber, 2008 WL 4182827 (D. Ariz. Sep. 5, 2008).
 * Mazur v. eBay Inc., No. 07-03967, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16561, 2008 WL 618988 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 4, 2008).
 * Doctor's Assoc. Inc. v. QIP Holders LLC, No. 06-01710 (D. Conn. Apr. 18, 2007) (no CDA immunity for false and misleading advertising claim on motion to dismiss where whether or not Defendant was an "information content provider" was a question awaiting further discovery).
 * Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe, Inc., 776 F. Supp. 135 (S.D.N.Y. 1991).

State Courts

 * Scott P. v. Craigslist, Inc., No. CGC-10-496687 (Cal. Super. Ct. Jun. 2, 2010).
 * Phan v. Pham, 2010 WL 658244 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2010) (defendant who forwarded a defamatory email written by another was immune from liability for forwarding the email even with his own non-defamatory introductory commentary).
 * Shiamili v. Real Estate Group of New York, Inc., 2009 WL 4842470 (N.Y. App. Div. Dec. 17, 2009).
 * Finkel v. Facebook, No. 102578/09 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Sep. 15, 2009) (Facebook immune from defamation suit based on private Facebook group, even where Terms of Use allegedly grant Facebook an ownership interest in the alleged defamatory content).
 * Intellect Art Multimedia v. Milewski, No. 117024/08 (NY Sup. Ct. Sep. 15, 2009).
 * Doe II v. MySpace Inc., B205643 (Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 30, 2009).
 * Joyner v. Lazzareschi, 2009 WL 695539 (Cal. App. Ct. Mar. 18, 2009).
 * People v. Gourlay, 2009 WL 529216 (Mich. App. Ct. Mar. 3, 2009).
 * NPS LLC v. StubHub, Inc., 2009 WL 995483 (Mass. Super. Jan. 26, 2009).
 * Fehrs v. StubHub, Inc., No. 0801-00515 (Ore. Cir. Ct. Sep. 9, 2008).
 * Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co., 1995 WL 323710 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1995).

Scholarship

 * Harvard Law Review, Badging: Section 230 Immunity in a Web 2.0 World, 123 Harv. L. Rev. 981 (2010).
 * Amy J. Tindell, "Indecent" Deception: The Role Of Communications Decency Act § 230 In Balancing Consumer And Marketer Interests Online, 2009 B.C. Intell. Prop. & Tech. F. 071901 (2009).
 * Danielle Keats Citron, Cyber Civil Rights, 89 B.U.L. Rev. 61 (February 2009).
 * Sarah Merritt, Sex, Lies, and MySpace, 18 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 593 (2008).
 * Cecilia Ziniti, The Optimal Liability System for Online Service Providers: How Zeran v. America Online Got It Right and Web 2.0 Proves It, 23 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 583 (2008).
 * Karen Alexander Horowitz, When is § 230 Immunity Lost?: The Transformation from Website Owner to Information Content Provider, 3 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 14 (Apr. 6, 2007).
 * Keith N. Hylton, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Immunity: An Application to Cyberspace, 87 B.U.L. Rev. 1 (February 2007).
 * Melissa A. Troiano, The New Journalism? Why Traditional Defamation Laws Should Apply to Internet Blogs, 55 Am. U.L. Rev. 1447 (June 2006).
 * Sarah Duran, Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Spread No Evil: Creating a Unified Legislative Approach to Internet Service Provider Immunity, 12 U. Balt. Intell. Prop. L.J. 115 (Spring 2004).
 * Jae Hong Lee, Batzel v. Smith & Barrett v. Rosenthal: Defamation Liability for Third-party Content on the Internet, 19 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 469 (2004).
 * Stephanie Blumstein, The New Immunity in Cyberspace: The Expanded Reach of the Communications Decency Act to the Libelous "Re-Poster", 9 B.U. J. Sci. & Tech. L. 407 (Summer 2003).
 * Kim A. Miree, Narrowing the Definition of an Interactive Service Provider under § 230 of the Communications Decency Act., 2003 B.C. Intell. Prop. & Tech. F. 33102 (2003).
 * Paul Ehrlich, Regulating Conduct on the Internet: Communications Decency Act § 230, 17 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 401 (2002).
 * Susan Friewald, Comparative Institutional Analysis in Cyberspace: The Case of Intermediary Liability for Defamation, 14 Harv. J. L.& Tech. 569 (2001).
 * Suman Mirmira, Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co., 15 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 437 (2000).
 * Michelle J. Kane, Blumenthal v. Drudge, 14 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 483 (1999).
 * David R. Sheridan, Zeran v. AOL and the Effect of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act upon Liability for Defamation on the Internet, 61 Alb. L. Rev. 147 (1997).