Web Caching

Offensive Content

As I mentioned earlier, pornography and other potentially offensive material comprise a noticeable proportion of web content.^[16] Most national (and some local) governments have laws that address the selling or transportation of pornography. Could, you, as a cache operator, be liable because your cache stores or distributes such material? Only one thing is certain: there are no simple answers.

In 1996, the U.S. government passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which attempted to criminalize the sending of pornography and other obscene material over “telecommunications facilities.” Furthermore, it sought to make liable anyone who:

knowingly permits any telecommunications facility under [his] control to be used for any activity prohibited [above] with the intent that it be used for such activity…^[17]

This might not be as bad as it initially sounds, especially given the use of the words “knowingly” and “intent.” Even better, the law also seems to provide an exemption for some providers:

No person shall be held [liable] solely for providing access or connection to or from a facility, system, or network not under that person’s control, including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other related capabilities that are incidental to providing such access or connection that does not include the creation of the content of the communication.^[18]

This is good news for those of us who operate caches. The presence of the phrase “intermediate ...