ISPs & rowdy web sites before the law

should we change today's safe harbour clauses?

Ugo Pagallo

pp. 419-436

in: The new ethical responsibilities of internet service providers, Philosophy & Technology 24 (4), 2011.

Abstract

The paper examines today's debate on the new responsibilities of Internet service providers (ISPs) in connection with legal problems concerning jurisdiction, data processing, people's privacy and education. The focus is foremost on the default rules and safe harbour clauses for ISPs liability, set up by the US and European legal systems. This framework is deepened in light of the different functions of the services provided on the Internet so as to highlight multiple levels of control over information and, correspondingly, different types of liability. The new responsibilities of ISPs concern the original "end-to-end" architecture of the medium and policies on design rather than responsibility for user content and individual messages.