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Full-Text Articles in Law
Incendiary Speech And Social Media, Lyrissa Lidsky
Incendiary Speech And Social Media, Lyrissa Lidsky
Faculty Publications
Incidents illustrating the incendiary capacity of social media have rekindled concerns about the "mismatch" between existing doctrinal categories and new types of dangerous speech. This Essay examines two such incidents, one in which an offensive tweet and YouTube video led a hostile audience to riot and murder, and the other in which a blogger urged his nameless, faceless audience to murder federal judges. One incident resulted in liability for the speaker even though no violence occurred; the other did not lead to liability for the speaker even though at least thirty people died as a result of his words. An …
Public Forum 2.0, Lyrissa Lidsky
Public Forum 2.0, Lyrissa Lidsky
Faculty Publications
Social media have the potential to revolutionize discourse between American citizens and their governments. At present, however, the U.S. Supreme Court's public forum jurisprudence frustrates rather than fosters that potential. This article navigates the notoriously complex body of public forum doctrine to provide guidance for those who must develop or administer government-sponsored social media or adjudicate First Amendment questions concerning them. Next, the article marks out a new path for public forum doctrine that will allow it to realize the potential of Web 2.0 technologies to enhance democratic discourse between the governors and the governed. Along the way, this article …
Revisiting Search Engine Bias, Eric Goldman
Revisiting Search Engine Bias, Eric Goldman
Faculty Publications
Questions about search engine bias have percolated in the academic literature for over a decade. In the past few years, the issue has evolved from a quiet academic debate to a full-blown regulatory and litigation frenzy. At the center of this maelstrom is Google, the dominant market player.
This Essay looks at changes in the industry and political environment over the past half-dozen years that have contributed to the current situation. This essay supplements my prior contribution to the literature, a 2006 essay entitled Search Engine Bias and the Demise of Search Engine Utopianism.