CompuServe
Inc extended distributor liability to digital intermediaries that exercised little or no editorial control over third‐party content, offering them the protections traditionally granted to newsstands and booksellers. This protected CompuServe from Cubby’s defamation claim, though it left open the possibility that CompuServe might have been liable for
Rumorville’s defamation had it failed to act after being made aware of the defamatory content.
In 1995, Stratton Oakmont Inc., the brokerage firm of
Wolf
Wall
Street fame, sued internet service Prodigy Services Co. in New York state court after a user of the service’s Money Talk message board posted several screeds alleging that Stratton Oakmont’s directors were about to be indicted. Unlike CompuServe, Prodigy was attempting to run a family‐friendly business. Prodigy had promised users that it would remove “obscene, profane, or otherwise offensive” messages and promulgated “content guidelines�
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