Hello -- I interrupt the past two weeks of ranting about SCOTUS and #Section230 to bring you this *really freaking important* piece of legal scholarship by @ericgoldman.
This article pissed me off and I hope it pisses you off too. Welcome to Jess after dark🧵
What if told you that there's an emerging popular litigation scheme that involves throwing as many defendants into a complaint as a Plaintiff can think of regardless of cause, jurisdiction, or the basic rules of civil procedure?
(we're talking like hundreds of defendants)
What if I told you that those same plaintiffs don't typically incur additional costs for this throw-defendants-at-the-wall scheme?
In fact what if I told you that plaintiffs are usually rewarded for their chaotic evil behavior?
AND what if I told you that plaintiffs actually have a ton of incentives to engage in the scheme because most of the time, judges never bother to assess improper joinder, service of process, or jurisdiction of every single 'Schedule A' defendant?
often resulting in an ex parte TRO or a straight up default judgment...
Worse, what if I told you that you yourself might be a Schedule A defendant and you just don't know it yet because Judges typically allow plaintiffs to SEPARATELY SEAL THE SCHEDULE A LIST OF DEFENDANTS..............
This is literally litigation via DDOS.
Anyway, you might say, Jess that's ridiculous. We have rules for a reason. Surely, you're exaggerating.
So, the next time you hear someone assert that the U.S. should embrace and adopt EU / UK Internet regulations, bring up this paper as the ultimate display of FUCKERY that is the U.S. litigation system.
EU litigation is child's play by comparison.
I have waited so long to bring this article to y'alls attention. Pls read and not enjoy.
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You can tune in for the "Platform Accountability: Gonzalez and Reform" #Section230 hearing here at 2pm ET / 11am PT. I'll be live-tweeting (for as long as I can stand it...).
ICYMI Texas' latest compelled-birth bill (HB 2690) enables private claimants to target websites that aid / abet abortions.
This only further raises the stakes for Twitter v. Taamneh; a case that will consider whether Twitter aided / abetted terrorism under the ATA.
How could this play out?
If SCOTUS holds that Twitter--in merely providing access to its service and enforcing its community guidelines against terrorist content--aided / abetted terrorism, the same can be said for *any* website that happens to host abortion related content.
Think about Facebook groups, subreddits, discord servers, group chats, etc., dedicated to providing a safe space for discussions about abortion resources.
Getting ready to kick off the Future of Children's Online Privacy panel at #SOTN2023
Jane Horvath suggests that more states need to implement kids privacy leg.
Privacy for all is an important goal. But state-by-state solutions will only make the current convoluted patchwork problem worse.
If anything, we should be focused on getting to Yes on federal privacy.
Key point from Jamie Susskind -- conversations regarding online harm to kids clouds the federal privacy discourse making it impossible to pass legislation. Those conversations are important but separate.
Next #Section230 SOTN panel starting with @joellthayer noting that FOSTA was important for taking down Backpage...
The DOJ took Backpage down before FOSTA was enacted. But details.
Yael Eisenstat (ADL): "where does Section 230 stop? where are the lines?"
Section 230(e) is a good starting place.
@MattPerault importantly reiterating those limits. #Section230 is not a defense to federal criminal prosecution. Congress has the tools to create legislation in this area if they feel it necessary.