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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Social Networking As A Communications Weapon To Harm Victims: Facebook, Myspace, And Twitter Demonstrate A Need To Amend Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, Joshua N. Azriel Apr 2009

Social Networking As A Communications Weapon To Harm Victims: Facebook, Myspace, And Twitter Demonstrate A Need To Amend Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, Joshua N. Azriel

Faculty Articles

The article discusses how social networking sites can pose a danger to victims of online offensive content. Part II provides an overall analysis of the dangers the Internet, especially social networking, poses to victims. Part III reviews Section 230 of the CDA, including the “Good Samaritan” provisions for social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Part IV analyzes three recent court cases that demonstrate how these social networking tools are used as weapons to harm victims. Part V concludes with a discussion of how the growing number of online incidents stem from social networking sites. It recommends that Congress …


The Aims Of Public Scholarship In Media Law And Ethics, Erik Ugland Jan 2009

The Aims Of Public Scholarship In Media Law And Ethics, Erik Ugland

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This essay urges scholars in media law and ethics to reevaluate the extent and utility of their public-scholar efforts and to consider ways that they can transfer research-based knowledge to public audiences while also playing a more deliberate role in holding media and government institutions accountable. It suggests that the devolution of standards in mass communication, the increasing encroachments on media autonomy, and the broader collapse of power into fewer hands make this a particularly urgent moment for scholars to reengage the public and to abandon their feckless neutrality on public issues. The overarching aim of public scholars ought to …