16.6.1. "What freedom of speech is becoming."
+ An increased willingness to limit speech, by attaching
restrictions based on it being "commercial" or "hate
speech."
+ advertising laws being the obvious example: smoking,
alcohol, etc.
- doctors, lawyers, etc.
- sex, nudity
- even laws that say billboards can't show guns
- A chilling but all too common sentiment on the Net is shown
by this quote: "Is it freedom of speech to spew racism ,
and steriotypes, just because you lack the intellectual
capacity to comprehend that , perhaps, somewhere, there is
a different way of life, which is not congruent with your
pre-conceived notions?" [Andrew Beckwith, soc.culture.usa]
16.6.2. We don't really have free speech
- election laws
- advertising laws
+ "slander" and "libel"
- thankfully, anonymous systems will make this moot
+ permission needed...licensing, approval, certification
- "qualifications"
- granted, Supremes have made it clear that political
comments cannot be restricted, but many other areas have
- often the distinction involves 'for pay"
- Perhaps you are thinking that these are not really examples
of government censorship, just of _other crimes_ and
_other rights_ taking precedence. Thus, advertisers can't
make false or misleading claims, and can't advertise
dangerous or otherwise unapproved items. And I can't make
medical diagnoses, or give structural and geological
advice, and so on...a dozen good examples. But these
restrictions emasculate free speech, leaving only banal
expression of appropriately-hedged "personal opinions" as
the free speech that is allowed...and even that is ofen
subject to crazy lawsuits and threats of legal action.
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind