Otherwise Objectionable
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The true story of the most misunderstood law on the internet. Tech journalist Mike Masnick brings you inside the making of Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, featuring witnesses to Silicon Valley’s Wild West era, the Congressmen who wrote the law, and innovators who benefited from its balance of freedom and responsibility. Why do so many people hate this law, how does the rest of the world deal with these issues, and how can it be used to take on new challenges like A.I.? Listen to find out.Otherwise Objectionable is executive produced by Bilander Media.
- 42 minutes 25 secondsEpisode 8: Prescriptions to Save the Internet
Our panel of experts — Charles C.W. Cooke from the National Review, trust and safety expert Dave Willner, Mike Masnick from Techdirt, and CEI’s Jessica Melugin — dissect this podcast’s raison d'être. What have we learned? Where are we now? And where are we going?
30 April 2025, 4:00 am - 31 minutes 11 secondsEpisode 7: The Future of Speech Online
The rise of A.I. has ushered in a new era for the internet, right when Section 230 and its protections have never been more threatened. Today’s innovators look to the past for guidance.
23 April 2025, 4:00 am - 24 minutes 29 secondsEpisode 6: The Rest of the World
The web gets big enough to impact presidential elections. And the rest of the world grapples with speech on the internet.
16 April 2025, 4:01 am - 30 minutes 5 secondsEpisode 5: Blowback, and the Dust Settles
The first real attempt to regulate the internet goes down in flames. But what remains is a structure to support the new, more interactive world of Web 2.0.
9 April 2025, 1:04 pm - 24 minutes 34 secondsEpisode 4: The Solution
A bill intended to keep smut off the internet threatens to undo everything Representatives Christopher Cox and Ron Wyden have accomplished. How will their compromise play out?
2 April 2025, 4:01 am - 29 minutes 23 secondsEpisode 3: Law and Disorder
Enter the dotcom era. Dueling lawsuits leave early web companies with a massive question — can they moderate speech without getting sued off the face of the earth? Two tech-savvy Congressman just might have an answer.
26 March 2025, 4:01 am - 25 minutes 32 secondsEpisode 2: The Dawn of the Internet
We travel back in time to the birth of the world wide web to hear how the earliest forums sparked a war over the future of free speech on the internet.
19 March 2025, 4:01 am - 41 minutes 22 secondsEpisode 1: The Most Misunderstood Law on the Internet
Pundits and politicians blame an obscure law for everything bad that happens online. What exactly is Section 230, and how did it spark a debate that could change the internet forever?
12 March 2025, 4:00 am - 2 minutesIntroducing Otherwise Objectionable
In 1996, two Congressmen drafted a bill that would give us the internet as we know it. Now Democrats and Republicans want it gone. Follow the true story of the most misunderstood law on the internet starting March 12.
25 February 2025, 9:59 pm - More Episodes? Get the App