Freedom of Speech Chapter 3 Part 1 The First Amendment CSC 301 Spring 2018 Howard Rosenthal

Transcription

1 Freedom of Speech Chapter 3 Part 1 The First Amendment CSC 301 Spring 2018 Howard Rosenthal

2 Course Notes: Much of the material in the slides comes from the books and their associated support materials, below as well as many of the references at the class web site Baase, Sara and Henry, Timothy, A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology (5th Edition) Pearson, March 9, 2017, ISBN-13: Quinn, Michael, Ethics for the Information Age (7th Edition), Pearson, Feb. 21, 2016,ISBN

3 Lesson Goals Understand the First Amendment Understand what freedom of speech is in the electronic age Free speech principles Free speech in the workplace Restrictions on free speech The Court and free speech Free speech laws and regulations 3

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6 The First Amendment 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. 6

7 Free-Speech Principles and the First Amendment Written for offensive and/or controversial speech and ideas Covers spoken and written words, pictures, art, and other forms of expression of ideas and opinions Restriction on the power of government, not individuals or private businesses 7

8 What is Speech There are many forms of speech Verbal Written Pictures Movies Non-verbal There are many ways to express the speech Books Newspapers On-line postings Pictures Movies Access to free speech platforms has grown easier throughout history Not speaking is another form of speech 8

9 Principles of Free Speech Freedom of speech protects us against government encroachment of the rights to free speech these should be a negative rights Do not let the government use the power to withhold funding as a lever against free speech Do not allow the government to determine who can speak and what they can speak about except in the cases of overwhelming public good Security Child pornography Freedom of speech should not create claim rights You shouldn t force anyone to publish your books, papers or views This means that information providers including publishers, radio, television, websites, etc. should not be forced to publish anything 9

10 Free Speech In The Workplace In this case I am not addressing inappropriate speech You will be given talks about inappropriate or insensitive speech and actions when you join any company Free speech can sometimes be tricky Knowing when and how to speak up can be a matter of judgment When Abraham takes Isaac to be sacrificed Did he pass the test by not protesting (speaking)? Did he fail the test by not speaking? In the case of the Challenger a few spoke up but no one in authority listened Career/fear Respect for authority Lack of absolute certainty Macho/Cowboy attitude The reality is that if you are a good manager your employees should not be afraid to speak up when they have technical or ethical concerns If you are a valuable employee you will speak up when you need to, but you have to recognize that many factors play into how you approach your manager, or how you manage such issues Your position Your level of expertise Your personality some people are simply better at handling other people 10

11 Restricting Free Speech There have always been restrictions on free speech Security including leaking secrets Sedition and advocating violence Pornography Public safety (false alarms, crying fire in a crowded building) Defamation laws vary from state to state and country to country New forms of annoying or criminal activities may be restricted Scams Spamming Some states have tried to limit on-line betting (NY State and Fantasy Leagues) There will certainly be a constant trade-off between Act and Rule Utilitarianism throughout this chapter 11

12 Supreme Court Principles Guiding Free Speech The Supreme Court has identified certain basic guidelines used in their decisions involving the First Amendment When a government action or law causes people to avoid legal speech and publication out of fear of prosecution, the law is said to have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights and will be declared unconstitutional Restrictions on speech, permit requirements, etc. must be content neutral Advocating illegal acts is (usually) legal Libel and direct, specific threats are not protected Inciting violence is illegal Anonymous speech is protected Some restrictions are allowed on advertising Recent trends Removing regulations on campaign speech Removing more restrictions on advertising, just so long as it is truthful 12

13 The Number and Types of Media Have Grown (1) We started with cave paintings very few hits per century Scrolls and then paper used to print books 8 BC showed is earliest recorded use of paper in China All publishing still done laboriously by hand Throughout the middle ages Bibles and other important books recopied by hand Much of this writing was done by Catholic monks Most populations were illiterate In 1456 the first book was printed on Guttenberg Press The book was the Bible Within a few years the Protestant Reformation began It was easier to reproduce and transmit information 13

14 The Number and Types of Media Have Grown (2) In 1605 we have the world s first newspaper printed in Germany In 1790 the first camera was invented although it would take another 60 or 70 years before it gained in popularity and efficiency In 1847 the first pictures of photo journalism during Mexican- American War In 1876 first telephone invented Connected US and Europe via radio in 1927 Transatlantic cable completed in 1956 First radio transmitters and receivers in 1896 First voice over radio in 1906 Growth of radio begin in 1920 s including formation of NBC and CBS and first presidential broadcast Becomes popular form for transmitting news and entertainment through the 1930 s and 1940 s 14

15 The Number and Types of Media Have Grown (3) First TV image in 1927 Technology develops through the 1930 s but very few televisions exist in people s homes First baseball game televised in 1939 Television takes off after WW II with many radio shows moving to TV TV starts move to full color in the 1960 s Direct TV born in 1983 Today there are an endless number of basic and premium cable stations Desktop Computing takes off in early 1980s AOL started in 1985, direct dial-up even before the World-Wide Web (WWW) By 1991 we have birth of the WWW AOL acquires Netscape In 1995 Yahoo is formed searching for information on-line becomes big business In 1994 Amazon is born and the distribution of books and information, and later all retail, moves in a new direction 15

16 The Number and Types of Media Have Grown (4) Publishing on-line takes off In 1996 we see the start of on-line newspapers In 1998 Google is founded Facebook follows in 2004 YouTube in 2005 everyone can publish videos Is privacy dead?? Kindle and other e-readers take off in 2007 By 2011 Amazon is selling more e-books than paper books New Methods of communications and technology have taken hold in the last decade iphone, ipad, other electronic pads Texting, Tweeting, Snapchat, Blogging Publishing can now be done by anyone without any filters, editors or fact checkers Tremendous potential for both good and evil Today you can instantaneously provide feedback on any topic TV stations make questions submitted electronically a part of their news shows We even have an interactive Encyclopedia- Wikipedia 16

17 Three Classic Categories of Communications and The Need For Regulation Print Media Electronic and Physical The actual printed word or picture has always had the greatest protections Broadcast Media Radio and television (over-the-air) have always been regulated to some degree Concept that over-the air (OTA) communications bandwidth is a scarce and there must be equitably managed by the government Licenses are granted and sold often at very high prices Common Carriers including telephone, telegraph and the postal system In the past these carriers often held monopolies and were therefore the most highly regulated Telephone companies were required to provide universal access and subsidize low-income persons to provide basic telephone services The WWW has aspects of all the different types of media, so which rules should govern the web? Should web-access be made free to low income persons? 17

18 On-line Communications and the Internet Opened Up Communications Channels Before the Internet took hold there were other systems that preceded it Bulletin Board Systems from companies like Sprint Private services CompuServe, Prodigy, and America On-line provided new feeds and other services Cable systems opened up television from a few stations to many hundreds The Internet opened up communications Free on-line news, information and entertainment from a wide variety of sources, both locally and from foreign sources Internet only television and radio now exists 18

19 Some Areas Of Regulation Over the air television and radio are regulated /censored for the public good act utilitarianism Smoking ads are banned Equal-time regulations Broadcast indecency Language Censorship rules can change over time Shows in the 1950s had people smoking like chimneys You get an R rating if there is smoking in the movies today Shows today have people hopping into and out of bed in ways that would have been banned not too long ago Lucy and Ricky (who were married) slept in separate beds with a night table between them So if social mores are constantly changing does government censorship make any sense at all? 19

20 Telecommunications Act of 1934 and 1996 Telecommunications Act of 1934 written and passed during FDR's first term Consolidated existing radio, television, and telephone regulations Created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to oversee all interstate and foreign communications Established many decency provisions Telecommunications Act of 1996 Lessened regulations on content providers and carriers, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Broadened the services provided by the carriers Today many of the big telecommunication companies not only provide content, they actually create it Clarified liability laws Protected carriers from libel laws, in particular if information content was posted by third parties This meant that they didn t have to check anything posted on their sites This was a change from print media, where the publisher was responsible for all the content they output 20

21 Communications Decency Act of 1996 Established rules to control pornography, child exploitation, etc. on the Internet In 1996 the sections dealing with indecency on the WWW were declared unconstitutional Basically left it to parents to control the access rights of children on the Internet Said that the law did not define indecency in a clear manner 21