Curt Hagenlocher on Wed, 30 May 2001 23:43:04 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Corporate Free Speech Battle is Escalating |
http://www.latimes.com/business/20010527/t000044302.html "Business leaders exult in what they say is a long-overdue recognition that corporations have constitutional rights too. "'In the United States, we still have certain legislation and certain rules that were designed for another period,' AOL Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald Levin said recently. 'Increasingly, through the help of the courts--that is, the reach of the 1st Amendment--we'll have opportunities.'" [...] "Even the requirement that a Web site post its privacy policy is vulnerable to being struck down as a form of 'compelled speech,' said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, who believes 1st Amendment protections should trump privacy rights. "If the government is allowed to restrict the spread of one kind of information, such as Social Security numbers or public records, it might be tempted to try to restrict another type of information, such as newspaper articles, Volokh said." -- So, let me get this straight: a corporation can sell my Social Security number, because to prevent them from doing so would be a violation of their "First Amendment rights", but for me, it's "use Napster, go to jail"? -- Curt Hagenlocher curth@motek.com # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net