Long ago in internet time, back in the mid-1990s, Congress
considered how closely to regulate Internet Service Providers
(ISPs). Congress determined that it was in the best interests of
the United States not to burden ISPs with restrictions, so that the
Internet could grow and flourish in the areas of commerce,
communications and education. Thus, Section 230 of the Communications
Decency Act was enacted and it provides broad immunity for ISPs
with respect to third-party content posted on their sites.
Generally speaking, ISPs have not been saddled with publisher-type
liability — it is not their job to police their web sites to
ensure that posted content is not false or malicious.
The high water mark of Section 230 ISP immunity probably was
best represented by the late-1990s case of Zeran v. AOL. In that
case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals basically held that AOL
did not have liability even though Zeran established that
third-party content on the AOL site sought
