'Public' online spaces don't carry speech, rights

[Yurt]

'Public' online spaces don't carry speech, rights


NEW YORK - Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative.

Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed

Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/...aring_freedoms

[Gaffer]

Very true, youtube does it all the time.

[gabosaurus]

I read that very story in the paper today. The internet may be perceived as "public," but it is actually far from that.
The internet actually can cut down on personal privacy. Anything you post on an internet space can come back to bite you at any time.
One of the best examples is the well-documented case of two high school seniors who were awarded scholarships to an elite private college. The extremely competitive scholarships were valued at around $200,000 over a five-year period.
Doing a routine background check, a college official found a Facebook entry that featured the two girls drinking and striking provocative poses. The immediately rescinded both scholarship offers, saying they violated a "moral conduct" clause.

People have been fired and even arrested for things they posted on the internet. Most challenges to such have been struck down in court.

The best course of action: Never post anything on the internet that wouldn't say out loud to the subject of your post. I know I never do.

[Yurt]

Very true, youtube does it all the time.

that is what i like about this board, no matter how stupid some get, they still get to post. there are rules, but the rules are few...and some, well........

[Noir]

'Public' online spaces don't carry speech, rights


NEW YORK - Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative.

Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed

Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/...aring_freedoms

But they don't have to carry free speech rights, when you sign up to an internet site, such as youtube and even Debatepolicy you have to accept terms and conditions to register, and these T&C will state that Mods and Admins have the final say in what can go on the site and what can't, you chose to sign up so you chose to have certain freedoms set aside when you post on those sites. If you don't like it the don't register with the site.