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Content Issues:
What is "Free Speech" Anyway?
Free speech means different things to different people in the world. And using
the phrase without cultural context results in many political arguments and
misunderstandings.
In the UK, for instance, "free speech" isn't referred to as often as it is
within the United States. When asked about it, most people in the UK will tell
you that it means being able to criticize politicians without fear of reprisal.
In Germany free speech does not include the right to say hateful things about
certain racial or religious groups. In the United States it means different
things than elsewhere in the world. In some cases it protects speech that is
outlawed elsewhere and allows certain laws to be invalidated if they infringe on
the "free speech" legal standard. For example, hate speech is generally not
illegal in the United States, but pornography may be. "Grooming," where adults
try and seduce children online into offline meetings is now a crime in the UK,
but generally not in the United States.
The
First Amendment, from which most free speech protection flows in the United
States, is often misunderstood. While most people will tell you that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives everyone in the
United States the right to free speech, unrestricted by government interference,
they don't know what that really means.
The government is not powerless to act when speech is concerned. For example, governments can set rules about when, where, and how a group can stage a protest march -- and forbid marches to take place at,
for example, three in the morning with noise levels loud enough to puncture eardrums. These "time, place, and manner" restrictions are fine, as long as they apply to everyone and are reasonable.
But, generally, the government can't set rules about the content of communications --what is being said. Certain exceptions to that rule exist, including one for
"obscenity." This is called "unprotected speech." If something is obscene, the government can regulate it, and criminalize its use.
(The hard part is trying to determine what falls under the definition of
"obscene," especially in the age of online worldwide communications. To learn
more about "obscenity" in the United States, you may want to visit _____ and
______.)
People often mistakenly believe that "free speech" and the First Amendment
permit individuals or entities (other than governmental agencies) to say
anything they want about someone else. But this isn't true.
Although the government is not permitted to censor protected speech, that doesn't mean that people aren't liable for what they say and do, especially when they say
untrue things about others that can damage their reputation. That is called
"defamatory speech" or "false light" and can lead to serious liability for the
speaker. To learn more about liability for defamatory speech, visit our
Defamation Online page.
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Parry
Aftab, Esq., 
Marvel and
all character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of
Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2004 Marvel
Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. “Super Heroes” is a Co-owned registered
Trademark.