America Online acted solely as an interactive computer service provider when it gave access to allegedly inaccurate information regarding a company and its stock and therefore is immune from suit under the Communications Decency Privacy Act of 1996, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled March 14 ( Ben Ezra, Weinstein & Co. Inc. v. America Online Inc., 10th Cir., No. 99-2068, 3/14/00).
America Online Inc. operates a large interactive computer service and publishes continuously updated stock quotation information concerning more than 40,000 publicly traded stocks and securities. The stock quotation information includes data about the market price for specific stocks and the volume of shares traded in the current or previous trading day. Two independent third parties — S & P ComStock Inc., a stock quote provider, and Townsend Analytics Ltd., a software provider designated by ComStock — jointly provide this information to AOL. The original sources for this information are major national and international stock exchanges and stock markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the over-the-counter market.
