The final law had one crucial tweak, however. Two younger U.S. representatives—Chris Cox, a Republican from California, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon—realized that unless something was done to protect websites that tried to police their own networks, the entire internet would be paralyzed by fear of lawsuits and prison time. Their consequent amendment became 47 U.S.C. § 230 (1996), known as Section 230. It was, in the words of Wired magazine, “the most important law in tech.”
