Questions about the first amendment
I have a couple of questions about the first admendment , but I have decided on one that I think would be the most interesting. My question is: does the freedom of speech have the same portection if you are writing it on the internet instead of speaking it out loud. So does it have the same limits? Does it make a difference that it will be there forever not just a couple of seconds? I am wondering all of this and if there is an answer at all? Can it be debateable or is it already a different admendment?
The Answer: after much tiring reseacrch I have found this.....
- the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Reno v. ACLU (1997) that speech on the Internet receives the highest level of First Amendment protection. The Supreme Court explained that “our cases provide no basis for qualifying the level of First Amendment scrutiny that should be applied to this medium
- The events associated with Internet censorship are similar to those for online/offline censorship of traditional/modern media such as newspapers or internet. One difference is that national borders are more permeable online: residents of a country that bans certain information can find it on websites hosted outside the country. Thus censors must work to prevent access to information even though they lack physical or legal control over the websites themselves. This in turn requires the use of technical censorship methods that are unique to the Internet, such as site blocking and content filtering
- Theb U.S. has almost no internet censorship but the most common motives or rationales for Internet censorship are politics and power, social norms and morals, and security concerns
- The ACLU's vision of an uncensored Internet was clearly shared by the U.S. Supreme Court when it declared, in Reno v. ACLU, the Internet to be a free speech zone, deserving at least as much First Amendment protection as that afforded to books, newspapers and magazines. The government, the court said, can no more restrict a person's access to words or images on the Internet than it could be allowed to snatch a book out of a reader's hands in the library, or cover over a statue of a nude in a museum.
After finding all of these facts I have concluded that the answer to my question is yes, the same protections and limits apply to posting things on the internet that apply to just saying something out loud. The government can not restrict any images or words that you put on the internet, BUT I would be careful what you do put up on the internet because it will be there forever and anyone will be able to see it. So ........... Think before you post and thanks for reading. ( :
My sources are:
