A round-up of tech policy reads/podcasts I’ve been following throughout the week:

Tech Policy

What the Biden Administration May Bring for Tech Policy

Top Republican proposes Big Tech action plan

Section 230

Removing Civil Rights Law From Section 230 Will Create Many New Problems, While Failing To Fix Existing Ones [Comments on the Civil Rights Modernization Act of 2021 (draft bill)]

Biden’s Commerce nominee backs changes to Section 230 [I’m not convinced that the new Commerce Sec has any real authority to impose said changes (see: NTIA/FCC 230 rulemaking issues from last year)]

Small Sites Need Section 230 to Compete [a great discussion from MeWe’s CEO]

YouTube has paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and others over the last three years [Wojcicki referred to Section 230 as an act that “enables us to both keep YouTube open and allow a large amount of content on the internet as well as take the actions necessary to protect our platform“]

Mirroring Qualifies for Section 230–Monsarrat v. Newman [Rare 230 case involving 230 protections afforded to users of interactive computer services!! Reminder that 230 isn’t just about tech co’s!]

Planning to Sue Twitter Over an Account Suspension? YOU WILL LOSE–Murphy v. Twitter [230 nerds are seriously going to want to deep dive the opinion. It’s a goldmine of good (and powerful) 230 takes]

Jess Miers’ New and Improved Intro to Section 230 Slides! [These are the slides I presented for the ABA Forum on Communications Law Conference]

Content Moderation

Rushing to Judgment: Examining Government Mandated Content Moderation [Really important study about how mandating quick turnaround times will lead to “precautionary censorship”]

The Technology 202: GameStop controversy sparks Washington scrutiny of Robinhood, fintech apps

Copyright

Proposal for Reform of Copyright Act Released for Public Comment – Including Changes for the Safe Harbor for User-Generated Content, the Status of the Copyright Office, and Orphan Works [Comments due by March 5]

Buying Beats for Viral Songs Is Becoming a Popular (and Messy) Business

Bonus

Prof. Eric Goldman’s Interview in the Privacy Law Student Organization’s Newsletter [Side-note: “I bet many students don’t know about RSS. It’s a technology that notifies me when websites add new content so that I can see just the new material without having to proactively check for it. I have about 160 RSS feeds. They are a critical part of my research function and make me far more efficient than I could be otherwise. I use Feedly as my RSS reader.” Jess’ Comment: I personally love Feedly which is what I use to create these weekly lists!]