Extensions to Freedoms of Speech and Press

Alex M (Coyo) Public Seen by 14

Should we amend the bill of rights to include explicitly enumerated constitutional protections if the Freedoms of Speech and Freedoms of the Press to include such things as file-sharing, social networking, and notice updates?

Should Twitter feeds be treated the same as news agencies? Should Blogs have specific enumerated rights and protections against incrimination?

Should libel, slander, defamatory speech, hateful speech, riot incitement and other forms of controversial be strictly limited in a constitutional amendment to protect the freedoms of speech and the press?

Alex M (Coyo) Thu 25 Apr 2013 2:11AM

This should be an interesting discussion.

Nick Thu 25 Apr 2013 2:13AM

EXTEND ALL THE FREEDOMS!

Amanda Johnson Thu 25 Apr 2013 2:27AM

I'm not sure about amending the constitution (it seems too specific to me) but I would support a law. I wonder if we could protect whistle blowing under freedom of the press?

Alex M (Coyo) Thu 25 Apr 2013 2:28AM

whistleblowing certainly should have specifically enumerated protections.

The reason I specifically want a constitutional amendment, is because this is directly relevant to the bill of rights, which necessarily MUST be the highest and most fundamental law of the land.

Amanda Johnson Thu 25 Apr 2013 2:44AM

I suppose I see the constitution as an outline. Will social media necessarily be relevant in 100 years? I think an update would be good but maybe we can talk about it more generally?

See whistleblowing is a general concept where email is specific. That's my issue.

Alex M (Coyo) Thu 25 Apr 2013 3:00AM

I am pretty confident that 'realtime reporting communications (SUCH AS update notification streams, news feeds, shared logging and online presence and status updates) will be perfectly relevant for a very long time.

I believe the legal programming keyphrase is "Including but not limited to...."

Steven Smith Thu 25 Apr 2013 3:03AM

As I've said before, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence. By the 2026-7-4, there needs to be at least a conscious national effort to reboot the constitution entirely.

At this point, the United States has the second oldest constitution in the world, behind San Marino at 413 years.

Fortunately, we enjoy many freedoms due to our constitution. However, it is outdated, and is beyond repair by amendment.

Alex M (Coyo) Thu 25 Apr 2013 3:44AM

I agree that we need to seriously update and amend the constitution. We need to expand and extend the freedoms of speech and press, introduce the freedom of privacy and include a lot of enumerated protections at the highest level of law.

Alex M (Coyo) Thu 25 Apr 2013 3:46AM

We should also expand and extend the right against warrantless search and seizure, update the right to bear arms and form militias, and we should expand and extend the constitutional rights to a fair trial by jury and clarify what a 'jury of peers' actually means.

Poll Created Thu 25 Apr 2013 4:09AM

Ratify Constitutional Amendment to Dramatically Expand Freedoms of Speech and Press Closed Sun 5 May 2013 6:44AM

Expand rights to freedoms of speech and press, protections for whistleblowers, and stricter limitations to infractions of libel, slander, hate speech, defamatory speech, fighting words, riot incitement and incitement to criminal behavior.

Extend protections to speech and press to realtime communications such as presence, newsfeeds and update notifications, voice and video telephony, instant messaging and filesharing as well as independent and small journalists and news agencies.

Extend protections of privacy of post to any form of civilian encryption, realtime communications such as voice and video telephony, instant messaging, text messaging, filesharing and online forums and collaborative libraries and virtual schools.