Yup Marsh was probably the first case you studied and it’s easy to forget our roots The AOL case (regarding email) was in 1996 before even I got online in earnest… and it was about spam being covered under the 1st amendment which is effectively hijacking AOL servers for capital gain and not really about free speech. Yeah I knew it was state constitution but only cited it to reflect my opinion on the matter.
All that ICANN stuff is greek to me. I just want to join political discussions without having to earn a degree in web design and shellout money for what should be public space or, alternatively, walk on eggshells about what I say for fear of being banned from the “mainstreet” controlled by privateers. I feel I have a right to any speech I want to read yet corporatocracy seems to think it has a right to decide what I can consume.
I don’t know… how big does a company have to be before it cannot refuse service to people on the basis of color, religion, etc?
It seems to me if an establishment is open to the public meaning there are no barriers to entry in the form of a key or membership card that would indicate the place is private and not open to the public, then I don’t see why constitutional protection shouldn’t follow the public inside. Where in the constitution does it indicate anything about a right to censor the public on private property if the private property is open to the public?
Enter the TOS agreement. I remember inquiring if I could compel people to sign a document swearing not to sue me if they have an accident on my property and was sternly informed that people cannot sign their rights away and that I would still be subject to suit regardless of the document. So if I cannot have a TOS agreement for people riding recreational vehicles on my property that protects me from the stupid mistakes someone else may make, then what gives the power to websites to remove rights from people? I’m getting screwed on both ends here. I can be compelled to have my rights taken, but can’t compel others?
What it effectively boils down to is cyberspace claim-holders want their right to free speech online but also want the right to censor dissenting opinion and that is asking for the right to dictate virtue by virtue of the luck in selecting a cool name like twitter and lucky enough to take advantage of the fed-money-printing inflating the stock market to grow into a tyrannical dictator of social justice.
At the end of the day, my view isn’t whether the ground is public, but whether the person standing there is considered a public or a private guest. Am I here because of an invitation or did I stumble in because the owner had an “open to the public” sign? Wherever I go as a representative of the public, I should have the protection of the constitution.
This site, for instance, shows on google search (I assume; haven’t checked, but let’s assume). That means I am someone who is addressing the public because my conversations are not hidden from them under lock n key. Because I am addressing the public, I cannot be censored. Also, I freely walked in here. There were no barriers to entry other than the signing of my rights away at the door. By all rights, I am public who is speaking to the public and should not be censored in any way (except in violations of law or soliciting and reasonable things like that). I mean, I can’t claim the 1st in order to hijack the site to peddle my own products (AOL case). I also shouldn’t be allowed to disrupt (subjective, I know). There are reasonable exceptions, but free speech should contingent on the state of the person and not of the property.
What do you think? I’m not a lawyer, but have read some cases and think, depending who the judges are and what side of the bed they woke on and how the stars align, they may agree with me.