For a very long time, now, I have believed that the worst mistake made by lawmakers, in relation to on-line communications, has been to apply the "sealed envelope" test to malicious messages.
However, the internet has always been like a board in a public place, to which notices are pinned. If a message on that board is obviously suspicious, the person who owns the board might reasonably be suspected of collusion with the person who pinned up the notice. Even if not colluding, then at least, of failing to apply adequate safeguards for those who read the messages.
It might be argued that the operators of messaging services are in a stronger position than the owner of a physical pin board,. Messages stored electronically are far easier to check than those written on paper and so it might reasonably, I think, be held to account for better reason, if they fail to notice that someone is misusing the system.
