FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: OVERVIEW

 Anonymous, or Anon, is a movement made up of a

number of nameless internet activists from around
the world.

For many, the 'hacktivist' group has become the

face of the new cyber-war against oppressive
governments and all-powerful corporate. Others
say the group's actions are reckless.

Describing itself as "the freedom of speech, the

freedom of information and the freedom of
expression taken to a logical extreme," Anon says it
breaks laws, but only for the greater good
 FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Anonymous the latest and most active “Hacktivists” today.
FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
The internet enables a worldwide exchange of
news, ideas, opinions, rumors, and information.
It’s broad accessibility, open-minded discussions, and
anonymity make the Internet an ideal
communication medium.

People must often make ethical decisions about how

to use such remarkable freedom and power.
Like the popular quote goes “with great power comes
great responsibility”.
FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
The right to freedom of expression is one of the most
important rights for free people anywhere.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was
adopted to guarantee this right and others. The First
Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment

of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the government for a redress of grievances.

In other words, the First Amendment protects the right to

freedom of religion and freedom of expression from
government interference.
FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
Numerous court decisions have broadened the definition of speech to
include nonverbal, visual, and symbolic forms of expression, such as
burning the national flags, dance movements, and hand gestures.

But the most relevant to information technology types of speech are

obscene speech and defamation.
Obscene speech- An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly
offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise
taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious.
The term is also applied to an object that incorporates such a statement
or displays such an act.

Defamation- Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement,

slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or
otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that
makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give
an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative
image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the
publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed
(the claimant).
 OBSCENE SPEECH
The IT city of Hyderabad was shocked by the news of a cyber crime. A
man whose marriage alliance was turned down tormented the woman
by putting up obscene profiles of her on the Internet
OBSCENE SPEECH
There are three questions in the First Amendment
that will help determine if the speech can be
considered obscene. These are the ff:
1) Would the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, find that the work, taken as a
whole, appeals to the prurient interest?
2) Does the work depict or describe, in a patently
offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined
by the applicable state law?
3) Does the work, taken as a whole lack serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value?
OBSCENE SPEECH
These tests has raised many issues, like how a work
can be assessed by its impact on an average adult
in a community , who is an average adult, what are
the contemporary community standards, and in the
mere case of potentially obscene material displayed
“world-wide” on the Internet, what is the
community?
DEFAMATION
The dangers of defaming somebody on the internet have been brought to the
fore, with a group of Sydney men now at risk of losing their jobs for bad-
mouthing their boss on Facebook - 17 September 2009
DEFAMATION
The right to freedom of expression is restricted when the
expressions, whether spoken or written, are untrue and
cause harm to another person. This publication of a
statement of alleged fact that is false and harms another
person is defamation.
Two different types:
Slander- oral defamatory
Libel- written defamatory

Although people have the right to express opinions, they

must exercise care in their Internet communications to
avoid possible charges of defamation.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: KEY ISSUES
Information technology has provided amazing new
ways to communicate with people around the world.
With these new methods come responsibilities and
new ethical problems.
Some of the key issues are: controlling access to
information on the
Internet, anonymity, defamation, hate speech , and
pornography.
CONTROLLING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON THE
INTERNET
Have you thought about the consequences of putting information about
yourself up on the web?
An informative visual video experience created by 4 communication
master´s students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,
Sweden.
CONTROLLING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON
THE INTERNET

One of the main reasons to support control of access

to information in the internet is the children’s
capability of accessing the Internet.
Here are some of the sections that address this issue.

The Communications Decency Act(CDA)

This act aimed at protecting children from online
pornography. The CDA imposed $250,000 fines
and prison terms of up to two years for the
transmission of “indecent” material over the
Internet.
CONTROLLING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON
THE INTERNET

The Child Online Protection Act(COPA)

In October 1998, the COPA was signed into law.
The law states that “whoever knowingly and with
knowledge of the character of the material, in
interstate or foreign commerce by means of the
World Wide Web, makes any communication for
commercial purposes that is available to any minor
and that includes any material that is harmful to
minors shall be fined not more than
$50,000, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or
both”.
CONTROLLING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON
THE INTERNET
Internet Filtering
An internet filter is software that can be installed with a
Web browser to block access to certain web sites that
contain inappropriate or offensive material.
The best internet filters use a combination of URL filtering,
keyword filtering, and dynamic content filtering.
URL filtering- is filtering a particular URL or domain name
identified as an objectionable site.
Keyword filtering- uses keywords or phrases such as sex,
Satan, f***, b*tch, and gambling to trigger the blocking of
web sites.
Dynamic content filtering- each website’s content is
evaluated immediately before it is displayed by using
image recognition and object analysis.
ANONYMITY
The principle of anonymous expression allows people
to state their opinions without revealing their
identity. The freedom to express an opinion without
fear of reprisal is an important right of a democratic
society. Anonymity is even more important in
countries that don’t allow free speech. However, in
the wrong hands, anonymous communication can
be used as a tool to commit illegal or unethical
activities.
ANONYMITY:ANONYMOUS
Anonymity at the wrong hands? Or not?
ANONYMITY: WAYS FOR BEING ANONYMOUS:
Anonymous Remailers
Maintaining anonymity is a legitimate need for some
Internet activities. Internet users who want to remain
anonymous can send e-mail to an anonymous remailer
service, where a computer program strips the originating
address from the message. It then forwards the
message to its intended recipient.

John Doe Lawsuit

in a John Doe Lawsuit, the identity of the defendant is
temporarily unknown. Such suits are common in the
internet libel cases, where the defendant communicates
using a pseudonym or anonymously.
NATIONAL SECURITY LETTER (NSL)
A NSL requires financial institutions to turn over
electronic records about finances, telephone
calls, e-mail, and other personal information of
suspected terrorists or spies. Recent developments
have expanded the scope and power of NSLs to
the point that some believe they now represent a
threat to freedom of speech.
PORNOGRAPHY
Many adults(also my classmates) and free-speech
advocates believe that nothing is illegal or wrong about
purchasing adult pornographic material made for and by
consenting adults. But some are deeply concerned
about its impact on children and fear that increasingly
easy access to pornography encourages pedophiles
and sexual molesters.
Today, the internet has been a boom to the pornography
industry by providing fast, cheap and convenient access
to more than 60,000 web sex sites.
About one in four regular Internet user (almost 21 million
Americans) visits a Web sex site at least once a month-
more than the number of visitors to web sports sites.
PORNOGRAPHY

Companies established steps that includes a

computer usage policy that prohibits access to
pornography sites, identifying those who violate the
policy, and taking action against those users- no
matter how embarrassing it is for the users or how
harmful it might be for the company, because as
long as they were taking reasonable steps to
prevent pornography, they have a valid defense if
they are subject to a sexual harassment lawsuit.
PORNOGRAPHY
Free speech or something else?