“Should Alphabet Inc. be held to a higher standard than a newspaper publisher? Is it appropriate to import standards of liability from tort law that arose in the physical domain—or should we have different standards for online conduct? Higher or lower?”

Simply put, yes, but I need to elaborate. America has created specific guidelines and standards for what it allows for media platforms such as newspapers and radio stations. I believe these rules are a great jumping-off point. However, I don’t think it’s enough to simply lift the rules from the physical realm and apply them to the digital realm. I know this is a cliche answer, but the internet is an entirely different beast when compared to the physical world. 

The internet reaches a range of people far larger and much quicker than any local newspaper or rumor through word of mouth ever could. In 2023, with the help of the internet, social media, etc., someone’s life can be completely turned upside down within hours. Within minutes, a hacker can learn everything about someone’s life (i.e., relatives, political affiliations, SSN, bank routing numbers, you name it). This, when compared to someone finding information about another person by opening someone else’s mail, makes the latter seem like, for lack of a better word, a game. 

 I don’t believe it’s enough for them to be punished for distributing harmful content. They need to be held to a standard that punishes them for being bystanders when harmful content is being pushed because it doesn’t reach their already low standard of harmful content. There are numerous instances where having strict standards, and a higher level of liability for these online platforms could have prevented a lot of harm. However, because of this seemingly low level of liability, they only flag/delete things and ban people’s accounts when (1) it’s so blatantly harmful or (2) in the aftermath of an event, whether it be a murder, assault, insurrection when it’s already too late. 

What does “[a] consensual hallucination experienced daily by millions” mean? William Gibson, author of the novel “Neuromancer,” gives us the phrase this assignment originates from; “Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation . . . Unthinkable complexity…” But what does this really mean? And more importantly, what does it capture and fail to capture about the reality of how we conduct ourselves on the internet? To fully articulate my reading of the phrase, I think it is important to break it down to its most straightforward form, bit by bit.

Surprisingly, despite being written in the 1980s, I believe the phrase captures the reality of the internet pretty well, especially compared to other readings from the time period. First, the internet is something that is consensually used (or experienced) by millions every day; it is not something that happens by accident. You can’t freely explore the internet without hitting paywalls, login pages, and, of course, terms and conditions that you must accept before continuing on your way.

Second and finally, while it could be argued whether the internet is a “hallucination,” I like to believe it is. While yes, it is based on reality, that doesn’t take away the fact that the internet and technology, as a whole, have blurred the lines between reality and fantasy. VR headsets and 3D social networking sites have made it so that we can simply plug in to go off to some “far away land” utterly detached from our own. That is truly crazy! And while I don’t believe this is what Gibson had in mind, the phrase still rings true in  2023.

Ah, 1996, what a time to be alive! Of course, this was before “my time,” but I can only imagine what it was like during the creation and popularization of the Internet. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, excited for the endless opportunities that could come from this new invention. A time when the conversation focused more on cyberdemocracy than it did on cybersecurity. 1 A time before we knew of the dangers that lurked in the deep, dark, hidden corners of the World Wide Web. And a time when only approximately 20-30 million Americans had access to the Internet and spent fewer than 30 minutes a month surfing the Web. 2  With a somewhat “manageable” number of internet users per month like that, of course, the idea of absolute freedom through cyberspace sounds like a fun idea. But, it is not practical, and it’s not a good idea. Not then and especially not now.

To fully comprehend why I don’t believe cyberspace should be entitled to the same kinds of self-determination as the citizens of the thirteen colonies were allotted in 1776, especially with the world we live in today. First, I think we need to consider just how unrecognizable our world is just 27 years later. By January 2022, the number of daily internet users in America alone grew to a staggering  307.2 million people. 3 With 90% of Americans currently using the Internet daily. 4 And that’s nothing compared to the whopping 5.07 billion (with a B) people who use the Internet worldwide. Think about that for a second. That is a truly insane number to wrap your mind around.

And not all of those 5.07 billion worldwide internet users, or even the 307.2 million Americans, are good people. The borderless opportunities of the Internet and the luxury of anonymity doesn’t only attract good people who desire privacy while surfing the Web; it also attracts those with less than pure intentions like predators, extremists, and other types of bad guys who wish the use the veil of anonymity to protect themselves from rightful prosecution. Without the government being involved (even if it is minimal), those committing crimes, spreading hateful rhetoric, and harming others would be completely vindicated and able to continue these acts without fear of reprisal. This is an extremely dangerous idea.

While I believe the government infringes upon our freedoms, I don’t believe this extends to the Internet as much as people would like to believe. The Internet, if anything, seems more like the Wild West (or Westworld) than ever before, as the laws are still attempting to catch up with the insane amount of progress we’ve made in just 27 short years. This post isn’t to discredit Barlow or his optimism about the future. To have visions and dreams of what the future could be is a necessity for progress. It inspires future generations to broaden their belief systems and think so far outside the box that they don’t even recognize the box when they’re done.   But, there must always be a healthy dose of reality with those dreams and visions to keep us grounded and from becoming some sort of science fiction dystopian world.

1 Wolfgang Kleinwächter, 25 Years of JohnBarlow’ss Declaration of Independence in Cyberspace: When Visions Meet Realities, CircleID (Feb. 6, 2021), https://circleid.com/posts/20210206-25-years-of-john-barlows-declaration-of-independence-in-cyberspace/.

2 Farhad Manjoo, Jurassic Web, SLATE (Feb. 24, 2009), https://slate.com/technology/2009/02/the-unrecognizable-internet-of-1996.html#:~:text=In%201996%2C%20just%2020%20million,subscribe%20to%20satellite%20radio%20today.

3 Simon Kemp, Digital 2022: The United States of American, DataReportal (Feb. 9, 2022). https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-united-states-of-america.

4 Andrew Perrin and Sara Atske, About three-in-ten U.S. adults say they are ‘almost constantly’ online, Pew Research Center (March 26, 2021). https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/03/26/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-say-they-are-almost-constantly-online/.

How much responsibility do you think Apple has, as gatekeepers on the App Store, to keep phones safe? When you download apps from the App Store or Play Store or wherever, how confident are you that the App will not harm your device.

I like to think of myself as mildly tech-savvy; I know enough to get by, especially when it comes to Apple and iPhones.

I think that’s true for a lot of us in this class. We grew up right beside the invention of the iPhone. But, for every new version or update made, we were right there with it. I still remember the first time I used to App Store. I was around the age of 13 without any hassle or need for adult permission. All I had to do was click “yes,” enter my “super creative” password, and that was it. I was on my way. I had no worries or concerns for my privacy and didn’t think about what the App could do to my phone for a second. Which, looking back, is crazy. Back then, so many of us didn’t think twice about the apps we downloaded onto our phones and the potential danger to which we are leaving ourselves vulnerable. I still think that rings true to this day. Why? Because a lot of us (maybe, not all, but a lot of us) wouldn’t even know what to look for. We wouldn’t know the red flags to look out for, whether it be a scam or a virus, until it’s too late.

To me, that’s Apple’s job. As the “gatekeepers of the App Store,” it’s Apple’s utmost responsibility to not only keep phones safe but to keep its users safe. Yes, there are terms and conditions that we accept before using the App Store in which we allow Apple access and sell our private information to other companies. Still, I don’t believe that should relieve them of all liability. At the end of the day, if there is an obviously harmful App on their App Store, they should do something to protect their users from it, whether it be drawing attention to the App’s danger or removing it from the App Store before it can cause too much damage.

My personal knowledge of the Metaverse comes mainly from my research during my Advanced Writing Requirement. I “fell down the rabbit hole” and learned more than I ever wanted to about the Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”). If anything, at the end of my research, I was left with more questions than I had answers. Which is to be expected as unusual and unique as the Metaverse. Even now, it’s an anomaly. Something we haven’t seen outside of science fiction and something we are still trying to get a decent grasp of.

Until we figure out what we want Metaverse to be and how to regulate it, we are going to be left wondering; Is the Metaverse truly going to be the way of the future, or is it just another overhyped flash in the pan meant to stay firmly in the realm of science fiction? In its current form, it leans more towards the latter. Call me a pessimist, but I do not believe that the Metaverse will become what people say it will. I do not believe that the Metaverse will become a fully immersive, fully realized, and well-functioning aspect of our daily life in the near future. Not without extensive research, immense barriers to protect our data and privacy from those who may be able to “hack the system,” and more than anything, a considerable level of review of the laws we already have in place and how they will be converted in the Metaverse.

As a lawmaker, my biggest concerns with the Metaverse are: (1) how do we competently protect the rights and privacy of Americans as they use the Multiverse and (2) how can we stop it from becoming the “Wild West” where there are no rules and anything goes? There are numerous different areas of the law at play when talking about the Metaverse, including  Privacy Law; Criminal Law; and especially Intellectual Property. I believe a good amount of current laws may be easily transfered to the Metaverse; however, in my opinion, the world of IP will need a well-deserved overhaul of current trademark and copyright law. Unfortunately, as we all know, the law (especially Intellectual Property) takes a while to catch up to current trends, and it is already behind when it comes to the current rendition of the Metaverse. Luckily, I don’t believe it is too far ahead that the law can never catch up. Therefore, I believe this is the perfect time for lawmakers and law enforcement to start educating themselves on the Metaverse before it gets out of hand and starts to evolve even faster.

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