So excited to be today's @ZoomLawSchool guest lecturer! Today we'll be discussing Internet Law's greatest (and perhaps most infamous) mystery: The case of Ken Zeran v. America Online.

The origins of this case trace back to tragedy. We solemnly remember this past April 19th as the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. This horrible act of domestic terrorism resulted in the death of ~ 168 people, injuring 680 more.

Just six days after the bombing, in 1995, an advertisement appeared on the "Michigan Military Movement" AOL message board.

Posted by "KenZZ03," the ad boasted T-Shirts and other items with disgusting and tasteless OKC bombing slogans. Interested in purchasing? Just call Ken.

Specifically, the number listed was Ken Zeran's, a (struggling) Seattle artist who couldn't have been further from Oklahoma.

Some of Zeran's art here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scribbletown/albums/72157651310453992

Meanwhile, Zeran receiving random death threats and purchase orders for OKC bombing T-shirts:

So Zeran calls AOL

And it goes pretty well except not really

Meanwhile, an Oklahoma City Radio Station (KRXO) decides to broadcast the ad

upsetting all of Oklahoma

So Ken sues AOL

And ultimately loses because #Section230 says websites are not liable for third party content.

So who attacked Ken Zeran and Why? And why didn't AOL just remove the posts? Why defamation? Why not publicity rights (which might have gotten around 230)?

https://www.law.com/therecorder/sites/therecorder/2017/11/10/who-cyber-attacked-ken-zeran-and-why/

This just so happens to be my Internet Law white whale. I've been investigating Zeran's case since last fall.

And I have some theories....

(my advisor @ericgoldman thinks I'm crazy)

Some think it was an ex lover

Some think it was a bad business deal (there were other ads, allegedly by Zeran, for computer parts...)

Some even think it was purely just a random attack by a random troll with a random purpose

But none of those theories really hold ground (at least imo). There are too many unanswered questions and missing facts.

For example, why was it posted to the Michigan Military Movement board? Who is the MMM and what was their involvement?

Well, I contacted one of the founding members of the MMM. And got nowhere:

I sent letters to Zeran, called his new phone numbers, I even got a copy of his mortgage statement just to verify he's still living in Seattle (he is):

No dice.

He did give a talk at my law school years ago...You can read his own comments here: http://www.kennethzeran.com/zeran_sec_230_commentary.html

But I couldn't help this weird gut feeling...

Here you got a guy, living in his parent's basement, with an unsuccessful art business, tons of business debt, and a little bit of an ego problem...

And as a former (ok current) Internet troll and certified Troll Scout myself, I can say with certainty that trolls don't just act randomly...the payload is in the reaction, the discovery of your trollish acts...

So maybe a troll attacked Ken

maybe KRXO attacked Ken

maybe AOL attacked Ken

maybe we all attacked Ken

or maybe

just maybe

Regardless, this case demonstrates content moderation's impossible challenge. Trolling is nothing but a chaotic art. And the line between free expression and chilling removal is not so bright. #Section230

If you have any insight into this case, please reach out!

Bonus memes that didn't make it into this thread: