Comments on: Free Speech Not So Free Online
Users Find Questionable, But Legal, Material Is Often Deleted From Sites Due To Gov't Regulations
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- OldThought,
Of course speech can never be completely free. You can''t get up in a theater and yell fire! - Reply to this comment
- Its the Politically Correct version of free speech. As the same meaning of freedom has devestating cost. Goes along with the same meaning I feel about the country we live in, its basically loose communism. Is always a play on words and meanings, that come to the reality, that nothig is EVER FREE, no matter of what version you use the word under, be it monitary, or political, or to be with out.
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- As a former newspaper editor, censorship is an issue close to my heart. The American media is among the most free in the world. British libel laws are much more stringent. A person in Australia who claimed he was defamed on an American website was able to successfully sue even though the comments would not rate as defamation under US law.
The internet is a medium crossing all international borders (barring censorship as in the case of China) so it can be subject to the laws of any country and the host, as with a newspaper publisher, can be sued severally with the author. This means that any host such as CBS, Yahoo or Flicr can be financially liable for anything published on the site if, for example, someone from the UK decides to sue.
I note that CBS and other websites regularly carry comments about President Bush and Senator Obama that would be grounds for a substantial payout if they were citizens of another country.
That said, I have been subject to ridiculous censorship on this site such as mentioning the name of D I C K Cheney or using the expression t i t for tat. - Reply to this comment
- Speech has only been free if you have the "permission",or no large group can hear you-see what happens to your radio lic . if they do not approve of your message-see how fast the CIA gets a newspaper to retract what it does not like.The propaganda system,is quite complete & centrally controlled-hoe else could such lowlife creeps end up in the White House?
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- Richard Cheney- *** Cheney- What''s the difference? Let''s face it: we Americans live in an adolescent and puritanical society that believes itself to be the moral leader of the free world. Yuh... RIGHHHT! Get a clue.
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- I know CBS has the right to censor what I type on this comment page, I just wish they weren''t so hypocritical. In a recent CBS online news story about G-A-Ys , S E X and child P O R N, Those very words that I had to trick the system into accepting were used throughout the article. They use the words themselves, and then offer a "reader''s comments" section such as this to discuss the story. Only WE can''t use any of the words CBS did in the story! How frickin'' stupid is that?
I mean, we''re all allegedly adults here, reading a news article about an adult subject. Just who are we trying to protect? Children? Christers who may be offended?
So let me get this straight... a child and a religious person can log on to CBS news, and read the story with all the juicy words intact, but they''re going to protect their innocence and sensibilities by CENSORING the reader''s comments that most people probably don''t read anyway.
Frickin'' stupid, I say! - Reply to this comment
- The general public of America.... so clueless...
The Information War has already been fought .. and lost... years ago. Reading something like this now, at this late stage of the game... it is WAYYY too late to do anything now.
Free Speech was a part of the sovereign United States, (which has lost it''s sovereignty), not part of the North American Union. They have their own, brand new laws... and it depends on how much money you have whether or not those laws affect you. - Reply to this comment
- martha44
You spelled it wrong, it is ***, but i think that is a derogatory term and should not be used any way. I am not going to judge someone whose lifestyle is different fom mine. - Reply to this comment
- They should automatically deletwe adds for solicitation to love websites as they are not appropriate to the subject, along with the guy posting for free gas.
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- If people would respond to comments in a rational manner i don''t think this censorship would be necessary. I can disagree with someone and do so rationally without resorting to name calling. I think everyone who posts should do so if they want credibility.
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