Ripples of Freedom

Perry de Havilland:

The First Amendment to the US Constitution is not the source of any right, it is just a legal tool used by Americans in America to secure the natural right all people have to express themselves. But in this networked world we have, it actually has the unlooked for effect of extending a significant degree of that protection to other people across the world who write from foreign keyboards about foreign things for foreign audiences, hosted on a server in the USA. I find that quite interesting.

Also read the neat comment by Sam Duncan there.

Comments

[Alex]

This is exactly why I've always used American web-hosting companies instead of Canadian ones. I know that in Canada, my account can be suspended at any time, simply by some random individual accusing me of "hate speech". The veracity of such a claim would be irrelevant - no company would take the risk of standing up for me, even if they believed I was innocent. The THREAT of legal proceedings is enough.

US companies have no such problem.