Freedom of Expression
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
‘Freedom of expression’ is an amalgamation of several concepts and rights that includes freedom of speech and choice of what a person is allowed to say, do, hear, feel or express. If we break down the words and analyse them from their core, the simple meaning according to various dictionaries of freedom is ‘the power to determine action without restraint’ or ‘exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc’ this implies that freedom is liberty without constraints, whereas expression is nothing but the act of putting forth things in words or describing or expressing current emotions through multiple means at different levels, for example spiritual, mental, physical or social.
Since we are discussing ‘Freedom of expression’ in regard to social media and in specifics to social networking websites like Facebook and Wikileaks who assimilate multimillion threads of information and personal data every day, what they do with it and how it can affect various functional groups in the society like the (3 tier spread): 1. Government 2. Society 3. Corporations
Freedom of speech is not generally seen as an absolute right, but a prudential right. An absolute right is a right that cannot be interfered of overridden, no matter what the public interest in doing so may be. Keeping the above in mind there are two aspects that have to be relatively analysed that is the positive and negative, and how different components of society’s composition are affected by them. As Quinn (2010, p. 152) explains, freedom of speech may exclude ‘libel, reckless or calculated lies, slander, misrepresentation, perjury, false advertising, obscenity and profanity, solicitation of crime, and personal abuse or “fighting” words’ , by the above statement we understand that like two sides of a coin there is an equal probability of people misusing their ‘Freedom of expression’.
Ethics as we widely speak about is derived from the word in Greek roots called
‘Freedom of expression’ is an amalgamation of several concepts and rights that includes freedom of speech and choice of what a person is allowed to say, do, hear, feel or express. If we break down the words and analyse them from their core, the simple meaning according to various dictionaries of freedom is ‘the power to determine action without restraint’ or ‘exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc’ this implies that freedom is liberty without constraints, whereas expression is nothing but the act of putting forth things in words or describing or expressing current emotions through multiple means at different levels, for example spiritual, mental, physical or social.
Since we are discussing ‘Freedom of expression’ in regard to social media and in specifics to social networking websites like Facebook and Wikileaks who assimilate multimillion threads of information and personal data every day, what they do with it and how it can affect various functional groups in the society like the (3 tier spread): 1. Government 2. Society 3. Corporations
Freedom of speech is not generally seen as an absolute right, but a prudential right. An absolute right is a right that cannot be interfered of overridden, no matter what the public interest in doing so may be. Keeping the above in mind there are two aspects that have to be relatively analysed that is the positive and negative, and how different components of society’s composition are affected by them. As Quinn (2010, p. 152) explains, freedom of speech may exclude ‘libel, reckless or calculated lies, slander, misrepresentation, perjury, false advertising, obscenity and profanity, solicitation of crime, and personal abuse or “fighting” words’ , by the above statement we understand that like two sides of a coin there is an equal probability of people misusing their ‘Freedom of expression’.
Ethics as we widely speak about is derived from the word in Greek roots called