The Age reports: The federal government has proposed new laws to unmask anonymous online trolls and to make social media companies that publish the defamatory posts of third parties liable. Under the new regime, a social media company would be legally responsible for defamatory posts unless they revealed to the victim the identity of the trolls. Companies…
Category: Online
Showdown at the Second Circuit on the Standards Protecting Online Anonymity
Paul Alan Levy writes about a case we should all be following: An important case about anonymous online speech is hurtling toward a decision in the Second Circuit. The situation is worrisome because defendants are so unsympathetic and the plaintiff’s legal claims seem to me very strong. The danger is that the trial judge’s dismissive…
Facebook, Citing Societal Concerns, Plans to Shut Down Facial Recognition System
Kashmir Hill and Ryan Mac report: Facebook plans to shut down its decade-old facial recognition system this month, deleting the face scan data of more than one billion users and effectively eliminating a feature that has fueled privacy concerns, government investigations, a class-action lawsuit and regulatory woes. Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at…
Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web.
David McCabe reports: Richard Errington clicked to stream a science-fiction film from his home in Britain last month when YouTube carded him. The site said Mr. Errington, who is over 50, needed to prove he was old enough to watch “Space Is the Place,” a 1974 movie starring the jazz musician Sun Ra. He had…