Freedom of speech, mine and thine
Aug. 24th, 2010 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesA redux to the deviantArt issue I mentioned previously. (Here go read -- I'll wait.)
Basically, the nutshell is that devArt's Hate Speech policy doesn't cover saying you are a homophobe, because it doesn't directly attack GLBT people. The mod that emailed me back after I sent my protest was very 'we support all speech, even odious speech'. Which did ping my freedom of speech sensor, so I'm going to talk about this.
The first amendment of the US Constitution states:
Now you know, for arguing-on-the-internet purposes. There are some limits -- the classic example is that you can't yell 'fire!' in a crowded theater if there is no fire. But it's between the US government and you.
Note that US free speech laws are pretty friendly towards the people, which I approve of. Even if it means we get the occasional insult-to-assholes like Fred Phelps who take as much advantage of this as possible to be an odious little stomped turd.
Also note, as I am fond of typing, 'freedom of speech is not freedom of response' (alternately, 'freedom of speech is not freedom from offense'). Which normally I reserve for the internet special snowflakes who cry censorship to all criticism, but lately I seem to have to trot it out for several people in real-world politics. Meaning that if two people hold contrary opinions, that is not an infringement on either's freedom of speech.
The same goes when one person is the webmaster of a site, or the owner of server space. Ultimately, that person, or her designated moderators/programmers/administrators/whatever have the decision of what they want on their servers. Some cast their nets widely, and some don't. And a lot depends on what purpose they want the site to serve.
If you just want to have a place for people to post their stuff, you really can just refuse to host anything illegal or harmful for the servers, possibly asking folks who eat bandwidth to pay extra or remove their stuff to keep your bills small*. If you want a community, you want to moderate more, or encourage sub-communities with their own moderators. The reason is that people can be asses. In real life, you can exclude an ass from social gatherings, or toss the creepy old guy out of the anime club for cornering freshmen girls during break or someone who joins just to evangelize about Neon Genesis Evangeleon, or insult meat-eaters at every chance. On the internet, in a community, you need the same features.
I guess the question I have to ask myself is 'how do I view DeviantART'? And, if I decide that devART is more like LJ, a nexus of communities rather than a community itself, am I willing to back down?
Gah, this is all so troublesome. It doesn't help that I think those stamps are dumb, even when they were 'I hated the Last Airbender movie'. Or at least not something to post on an art site.
* I'm told this is the real reason a lot of webhosts have rules against porn -- porn tends to be a high-bandwidth thing and some of it gets all kind of nasty programs attached to hijack the unwary.
Basically, the nutshell is that devArt's Hate Speech policy doesn't cover saying you are a homophobe, because it doesn't directly attack GLBT people. The mod that emailed me back after I sent my protest was very 'we support all speech, even odious speech'. Which did ping my freedom of speech sensor, so I'm going to talk about this.
The first amendment of the US Constitution states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Now you know, for arguing-on-the-internet purposes. There are some limits -- the classic example is that you can't yell 'fire!' in a crowded theater if there is no fire. But it's between the US government and you.
Note that US free speech laws are pretty friendly towards the people, which I approve of. Even if it means we get the occasional insult-to-assholes like Fred Phelps who take as much advantage of this as possible to be an odious little stomped turd.
Also note, as I am fond of typing, 'freedom of speech is not freedom of response' (alternately, 'freedom of speech is not freedom from offense'). Which normally I reserve for the internet special snowflakes who cry censorship to all criticism, but lately I seem to have to trot it out for several people in real-world politics. Meaning that if two people hold contrary opinions, that is not an infringement on either's freedom of speech.
The same goes when one person is the webmaster of a site, or the owner of server space. Ultimately, that person, or her designated moderators/programmers/administrators/whatever have the decision of what they want on their servers. Some cast their nets widely, and some don't. And a lot depends on what purpose they want the site to serve.
If you just want to have a place for people to post their stuff, you really can just refuse to host anything illegal or harmful for the servers, possibly asking folks who eat bandwidth to pay extra or remove their stuff to keep your bills small*. If you want a community, you want to moderate more, or encourage sub-communities with their own moderators. The reason is that people can be asses. In real life, you can exclude an ass from social gatherings, or toss the creepy old guy out of the anime club for cornering freshmen girls during break or someone who joins just to evangelize about Neon Genesis Evangeleon, or insult meat-eaters at every chance. On the internet, in a community, you need the same features.
I guess the question I have to ask myself is 'how do I view DeviantART'? And, if I decide that devART is more like LJ, a nexus of communities rather than a community itself, am I willing to back down?
Gah, this is all so troublesome. It doesn't help that I think those stamps are dumb, even when they were 'I hated the Last Airbender movie'. Or at least not something to post on an art site.
* I'm told this is the real reason a lot of webhosts have rules against porn -- porn tends to be a high-bandwidth thing and some of it gets all kind of nasty programs attached to hijack the unwary.
