The 26 Words That Made The Internet What It Is

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The 26 Words That Made the Internet What It Is (April 22, 20212)
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Today, the internet is everything that human beings interact with. Nothing can be done
without accessing the internet and ostensibly looking for the internet required for it to be
successful. Nonetheless, the internet also has a worst-case scenario depending on how people use
it. This podcast about 26 words that made the internet is commonly found at section 230 of the
communications Decency Act of 1996 which contains 26 words at its heart. However, the 26
words stipulated in this podcast indicate that the website is not legally responsible for what
people are posting or doing with the internet. These 26 words contained in the act are “No
provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of
any information provided by another information content provider” (Kosseff, 2019). These
words play an important role because if it was not for it, the use of internet today could not
positively impact the lives of the users and service providers. From this podcast, various
concepts are easily drawn from it. They include knowing how the online platforms are shielded
from legal liabilities when the third party generates the content. This means when the website
user or any platform owner harasses the user, the user will have the ability to sue him or her.
However, not all platforms can be sued. Facebook or Yelp, for example, are very immune, thus
becoming the main reason why Americans are doing this that are far much from being content
producers. The beginning of the social media platform is attributed to Mr. Kosseff, a
cybersecurity professor, that had a huge narration of convoluted cases that made all the online
platforms almost invulnerable to any law actions. An example of such a case is that one for Los
Angeles, a book seller, was liable for selling a book that had violated the city ordinance. This is
very interesting because the seller was not aware of any content inside the book, and of course,
he could not have read all the content because he deals with selling the books, not scrutinizing
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the content. In a nutshell, this podcast guides how the 26 words made the internet immune from
lawsuits and how such lawsuits protect internet service providers.
Looking insightfully on the podcast on the 26 words that create the internet, three parties
are involved: the producer, provider, and user. Looking at chapter 2, the entire chapter addresses
who should produce products and why they should do so. Further to this, in section LO 2.3, page
36, the chapter addresses specialization between the United States and Bangladesh in producing
T-shirts and bushels. When the two countries specialize, T-shirts' production from the two
countries will increase by 0.5 billion, and the production dor the bushels will increase by 2
billion (Karlan & Morduch, 2010). This shows how specialization can create a lot of profits.
Back to the podcast, the law is trying to protect the users from any illegalities caused by the
online platforms without the user's consent. In this case, the producers will be responsible for any
issues or posts that the website has. In this case, the concept of specialization is achieved. The
Communications Act tries to enforce specialization because producers and providers will have
their tasks for internet use. When the United States and Bangladesh decided to specialize, there
was a drastic increase in production. This concept also applies to the producers and providers of
internet services. However, when it comes to the internet, it will not be the issue of increasing
internet production but also enhancing the security of the providers and the producers. An
increase in production will be achieved because the law enforced will ensure producers will be
able to create online platforms that will encourage the users and the providers because they will
be assured of the security requirements. The increase in the number of users will increase the
number of providers, thus creating a chain that would, in turn, increases the production of
internet services. An increase in production, in turn, increases economic opportunities as more
products and innovations are created.

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The podcast on the 26 words that make the internet is a very important and need-to-know
topic that many people are yearning to know. My choice on this podcast is based on the fact that
the world we are in today is a global world due to the use of the internet. Apart from increasing
interactivity, the internet has also enhanced trade that has raised the economic stabilities of many
countries. Taking note from Mr. Kosseff’s details on the exceptionalism of the internet, it has
created many blowing and unprecedented economic opportunities that have improved the quality
of life ("26 words that made the internet what it is: The indicator from planet money," 2021).
Therefore, my choice on this podcast is engineered by understanding how legal liabilities on
online platforms have led to economic opportunities. This podcast is very interesting to other
people who would read and see it and me. This is because the podcast is all about the legal
liabilities found on the use of the internet. As technology emerges, many fraudsters may steal
internet content, and the user may end up being criminalized for something he or she does not
know. Therefore, reading the entire podcast provides the knowledge of why the service provider
and the user of an online platform whose content was produced by a third party should not be
sued in an issue. It becomes very interesting because it makes the content producers understand
their limits and ostensibly protect their users from any legal issues that may arise. In this podcast,
various things have been discussed, including twenty-six words that created the internet. These
words include three players, that is the service provider, producer, and the user. The words
strategically mean that websites are liable to what the users post. Taking the insights of concept,
I, as a student, am prone od using the internet, and, in any case, there may arise some issues that
may lead to serious offenses. When such a situation arises, the concept from this podcast will be
helpful in that I will have slight protection because I am not the producer of the content found on
the website. As I would be able to access all the contents in the website, this will enable the use
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of internet interesting and enjoy fully as I am accessing anything that I want. Also, I may be
using an online platform such as Yelp in doing my business. When the business is defamed from
any activities by the Yelp reviewer, I will have the capacity to sue the reviewer, thus enhancing
good business operations that would enable me as a business person to achieve my objectives.
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References
Karlan, D., & Morduch, J. (2010). Access to finance. In Handbook of development
economics (Vol. 5, pp. 4703-4784). Elsevier.
Kosseff, J. (2019). The twenty-six words that created the internet. Cornell University Press.
The 26 words that made the internet what it is: The indicator from planet money. (2021, April
22). Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/989862270/the-26-words-that-
made-the-internet-what-it-is

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1

lawsuits and how such lawsuits protect internet service providers.

internet services. An increase in production, in turn, increases economic opportunities as more

products and innovations are created.

Therefore, my choice on this podcast is engineered by understanding how legal liabilities on

Karlan, D., & Morduch, J. (2010). Access to finance. In Handbook of development

economics (Vol. 5, pp. 4703-4784). Elsevier.

22). Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/989862270/the-26-words-that-

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