Finstas, Falsehoods and the First Amendment
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2021
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s recent testimony before Congress has set in motion a renewed cycle of outrage over the company’s practices—and a renewed round of discussion around what, if anything, Congress should do to rein Facebook in. But how workable are these proposals, really?
This week on Arbiters of Truth, our series on the online information ecosystem, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Jeff Kosseff, an associate professor of cybersecurity law at the United States Naval Academy, and the guy that has literally written not just the book on this, but two of them. He is the author of “The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet,” a book about Section 230, and he has another book coming out next year about First Amendment protections for anonymous speech, titled “The United States of Anonymous.” So Jeff is very well positioned to evaluate recent suggestions that Facebook should, for example, limit the ability of young people to create what users call Finstas, a second, secret Instagram account for a close circle of friends—or Haugen’s suggestion that the government should regulate how Facebook amplifies certain content through its algorithms. Jeff discussed the importance of online anonymity, the danger of skipping past the First Amendment when proposing tech reforms, and why he thinks that Section 230 reform has become unavoidable … even if that reform might not make any legal or policy sense.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
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| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | People are more likely to behave in an uncivil manner under their real names than they are under their students. |
| 0:43.0 | Conversely, there are studies that find that the higher quality comments are those that are posted suitonomously because they're just more candid. |
| 0:54.0 | I'm Quintit Jurassic, and this is the LawFair podcast. |
| 0:58.0 | October 14th, 2021. |
| 1:02.0 | Today, we're bringing you another episode of Arbiters of Truth, our series on the online information ecosystem. |
| 1:08.0 | Facebook whistleblower Francis Hougins, recent testimony before Congress, has set a motion a renewed cycle of outrage over the company's practices. |
| 1:18.0 | And a renewed round of discussion around what, if anything, Congress should do to rein Facebook in. |
| 1:24.0 | But how workable are these proposals, really? |
| 1:27.0 | This week on the show, Evelyn Duwick and I spoke with Jeff Kosseth, an associate professor of cybersecurity law at the United States Naval Academy, |
| 1:36.0 | and the guy who is literally written not just the book on this, but two of them. |
| 1:41.0 | He's the author of the 26 words that created the internet, a book about section 230, and he has another book coming out next year about First Amendment protections for anonymous speech, |
| 1:52.0 | titled The United States of Anonymous. So Jeff is very well positioned to evaluate recent suggestions that Facebook should, for example, limit the ability of young people to create what users call Finstas, |
| 2:05.0 | a second secret Instagram account for a close circle of friends, or Hougins suggestion that the government should regulate how Facebook amplifies certain content through its algorithms. |
| 2:16.0 | Jeff walked us through the importance of online anonymity, the danger of skipping past the First Amendment when proposing tech reforms, |
| 2:24.0 | and why he thinks that section 230 reform has become unavoidable, even if that reform might not make any legal or policy sense. |
| 2:32.0 | It's the Laugh Air Podcast, October 14th, Finstas, falsehoods, and the First Amendment. |
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