NewYorker -Poster

Poster had a valid point when he was talking about the First Amendment being carried over to the Internet (pg 538). At first glance, it should seem that the freedom of speech rule would apply to the Internet, blogs, homepages, etc. And at the emergence of the Internet, there was absolute freedom of speech throughout cyberspace. However, recently, many sites have been shut down and people have been prosecuted and charged. There are thousands of hater web sites, devoted to certain people, religions, or subjects, that say very harsh things. Now, technically, according to the Amendments, that is allowed - everyone has the freedom to say what they want. But this I think has taken it to a whole new level - it is generating hate, and bad energy amongst web browsers. Even people who stumble across the sites by mistake, they don't want to see that negative page. These pages have caused many problems. Even recently on Facebook, which is actually a very strong vessel for freedom of speech, a group was created promoting hate toward a sorority on campus. And again, technically, that person who started it has a right to say what they want, but if you are part of that target sorority, it is very hurtful to see a group dedicated towards something that you are a part of. People began to see it, and people started protesting - nevertheless, it got taken down eventually. So it's hard, because freedom of speech goes both ways, and each of us has the power. We can use that freedom for good, and promote positive messages, or we can use it for bad, and promote negative and hateful messages. Either way, it is a catch-22 because you want to speak your mind and see if anyone out there in cyberspace agrees with you, but you never know who you are going to offend.