From the textbook of my current college course, Ethics in Information Technology, by George W. Reynolds, 5th edition, pp. 181-182:
Quote:FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
The Internet enables a worldwide exchange of news, ideas, opinions, rumors, and information. Its broad accessibility, open discussions, and anonymity make the Internet a remarkable communications medium. It provides an easy and inexpensive way for a speaker to send a message to a large audience—potentially thousands or millions of people worldwide. In addition, given the right email addresses, a speaker can aim a message with laser accuracy at a select subset of powerful and influential people.
People must often make ethical decisions about how to use such incredible freedom and power. Organizations and governments have attempted to establish policies and laws to help guide people, as well as to protect their own interests. Businesses, in particular, have sought to conserve corporate network capacity, avoid legal liability, and improve worker productivity by limiting the nonbusiness use of IT resources.
The right to freedom of expression is one of the most important rights for free people everywhere. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (shown in Figure 5-1) was adopted to guarantee this right and others. Over the years, a number of federal, state, and local laws have been found unconstitutional because they violated one of the tenets of this amendment.
The First Amendment reads as follows:
In other words, the First Amendment protects Americans’ rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression. This amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as applying to the entire federal government, even though it only expressly refers to Congress.Quote: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.
Numerous court decisions have broadened the definition of speech to include nonverbal, visual, and symbolic forms of expression, such as flag burning, dance movements, and hand gestures. Sometimes the speech at issue is unpopular or highly offensive to a majority of people; however, the Bill of Rights provides protection for minority views. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the First Amendment protects the right to speak anonymously as part of the guarantee of free speech.
The Supreme Court has held that the following types of speech are not protected by the First Amendment and may be forbidden by the government: perjury, fraud, defamation, obscene speech, incitement of panic, incitement to crime, “fighting words,” and sedition (incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government). Two of these types of speech—obscene speech and defamation—are particularly relevant to information technology.
