Law Commons^™

Restricting Hate Speech Against Private Figures: Lessons In Power-Based Censorship From Defamation Law, Victor C. Romero

Victor C. Romero

This article examines the debate between those who favor greater protection for minorities vulnerable to hate speech and First Amendment absolutists who are skeptical of any burdens on pure speech. The author also provides another perspective on the debate by highlighting the "public/private figure" distinction as an area within First Amendment law that acknowledges differences in power, a construct anti-hate speech advocates should use to further their cause. Specifically, the author places the "public/private figure" division in a theoretical and historical context and then provides empirical support for the thesis that whites enjoy a more prominent societal role and greater …

Infusing The Meaning Of “Cruel And Unusual” Through The Digital Public Sphere: How The Internet Can Change The Debate On The Morality Of Capital Punishment, Adam A. Marshall

Adam A Marshall

In this paper, I suggest new strategies that abolitionists should adopt in the debate over the morality of the death penalty. As the Eighth Amendment “draw[s] its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”, advocates for abolishing the death penalty should develop strategies based on the moral theories of Adam Smith to leverage the power of the internet and ensure all citizens feel the effects of the death penalty in order to stimulate debate over its morality. By examining these concepts through the case of Troy Davis, we can see how the …

The Corporatization Of Communication, Eric Chiappinelli, Adam Candeub, Jeffrey Chester, Lawrence Soley

Lawrence Soley

Our next panel discusses the corporatization of communication.

Facebook, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Fascínios, possibilidades e perigos do Facebook e de tecnologias afins e seu uso. Sobretudo, a pseudo-democracia electrónica, tentação dos demagogos.

Apuntes Generales Sobre La Libertad De Expresión En Internet, Germán M. Teruel Lozano

Germán M. Teruel Lozano

GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN INTERNET: This paper presents an overview of how Internet has revolutionized the setting of freedom of speech. In particular, it is focused in to main aspects: On one hand, the delimitation of freedom of expression in the new media, differentiating in particular between web pages dedicated to the dissemination of information, protected by the freedom of speech; and those that are intended to provide other telematics services, which should not have this protection. Secondly, it is also studied the legal status of this freedom when it is exercised through Internet.

Online Surveillance: Remembering The Lessons Of The Wiretap Act, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

This Article explores those features of electronic surveillance that have made it challenging to regulate effectively. In balancing interests, lawmakers must create a workable law for an exceedingly complex topic, rein in law enforcement agents without crippling them, and draw a line between prohibited and permitted conduct despite society's ambivalence about surveillance. This Article demonstrates that lawmakers met those challenges when they regulated traditional wiretapping, but they have failed to meet them in the online context. It argues that the law should extend the significant restrictions on wiretapping to online surveillance, just as judges did in the case of video …

The Impact Of The Use Of New Communications And Information Technologies On Trafficking In Human Beings For Sexual Exploitation: A Study Of The Users, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

The trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation is a global human rights crisis being

perpetrated by individual criminals and organized crime groups, and facilitated by increased tolerance

for the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of women and children.

New communications and information technologies have created a global revolution in

communications, access to information, and media delivery. There are a lot of positive aspects to the

global revolution, but there are also some very negative ones. This report describes the most negative

ones—how communications and information technologies are used to facilitate the trafficking of

women and children for sexual …

Comparative Institutional Analysis In Cyberspace: The Case Of Intermediary Liability For Defamation, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

Almost every day brings reports that Congress is considering new cyberspace-targeted laws and the courts are deciding novel cyberspace legal questions. These developments lend urgency to the question of whether a particular cyberspace legal change should come through operation of new statutes, judicial decisions, or the free market. If we can develop sophisticated analytical methods to evaluate institutional competence in cyberspace, we can vastly improve the development of cyberspace law and public policy.

Comparative Institutional Analysis in Cyberspace: The Case of Intermediary Liability for Defamation promotes just such an approach. By describing and extending a recently proposed model of comparative …