Category Archives: Free Speech

THE debate on free speech and its limits is thousands of years old, and different societies through the ages have taken very different positions.

Political power, religious authority and economic ideas can all be threatened by free speech.

For many people, that makes free speech not only an important principle, but an absolute one.

But free speech can also threaten our individual wellbeing, our lives or even our whole society, when those speaking incite others to act against us.

This tension will always exist, and the debate about free speech and its limits will keep resurfacing, never being resolved and always needing to be redefined.

We're currently being forced to consider these issues again following the violence in Copenhagen and Paris, perpetrated by people unwilling to accept that free speech includes the freedom to criticise or mock their religion.

The responses have been both defiant and creative, with the pencil becoming a symbol of free speech.

But it's not so long since our own laws came down on the other side of this debate.

It's less than a decade since blasphemy, which originally carried the death penalty, was repealed in England and Wales, something which has never been done in Scotland.

Originally posted here:

Patrick Harvie

WASHINGTON POST

Some users are finding fault with Reddits failure to protect absolute free speech.

Reddit, the long-time haven of weirdos, perverts and miscreants the internet over, has been, from its beginning, the mainstream bulwark for free speech online.

A beginner's guide to Reddit

Reddit's opinionated audience grows

But in a strange twist that perfectly illustrates the current culturewide debate around online speech, a group of disgruntled users have begun an exodus off the site - claiming, against all odds, that Reddit is censoring them as a matter of corporate policy.

This is, for the record, the same Reddit that defended Violentacrez, the Texas man who ran forums on beating women and sexualising underage girls. The Reddit that allowed rampant speculation about the Boston bombing, even when it became dangerous. The Reddit that, just this past fall, supported a booming trade in stolen celebrity nude photos, and still, even now, hosts a variety of racist, misogynistic, homophobic and otherwise "NSFL" content that I dare not link to from here.

If this isn't enough free speech, what is?

To understand that question (let alone the answer to it), you have to start with a working knowledge of Reddit's labyrinthine depths. The site is, for the uninitiated, basically a social news service divided into tens of thousands of themed forums, called subreddits. Users submit links, photos and in-jokes to the forums, which are voted up or down by other users. The forums themselves are run by volunteer moderators, or mods, who can basically make and enforce rules as they see fit. In general, corporate Reddit - Advance Media-owned Reddit, US$50-million-funding-round Reddit, only-35-employees Reddit - doesn't step in unless the company is at risk of being sued.

The core philosophy, co-founder Alexis Ohanian explained in a book on Reddit's early days, was "giving the people what they want." Whatever they want. Accordingly, each forum looks a little different. In r/aww - one of my personal favourites - mods ban slurs, harassing comments and anything "sad." In r/thefappening, where users shared the celebrity nudes that ruled September's news cycle, slurs and harassing comments were basically the norm. (And that was, on its own, pretty sad.)

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Reddit exodus illustrates state of free speech online

The ex-mistress of a multimillionaire Manhattan businessman is calling her former sugar daddy a hypocrite for muzzling her on social media because he runs a foundation that promotes free speech.

Last week, after a Manhattan Family Court judge allowed Katherine Nelson, 40, to tweet about her affair with Delphi Group CEO Robert Rosenkranz, 72, the septuagenarian Yale and Harvard grad rushed to a judge in Manhattan Supreme Court to get an emergency gag order.

Rosenkranz got a temporary ruling barring Nelson from discussing her relationship with him or blabbing about anything she may have learned about him in person, by e-mail or on the Internet.

Nelson told The Post, Its very ironic that his whole charitable work is around public policy and the Constitution and here he goes to court and puts a prohibition on me to post any information on any forum.

The day after Valentines Day, Nelson flouted the gag order by posting a photo of a gift from her former lover Tiffany tassel earrings with a note from Rosenkranz on his personal stationery that read, Katherine Nelson: In appreciation ...

Rosenkranzs attorney, Peter Bronstein, said, Shes enjoined from saying anything about him.

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Muzzled mistress blasts free speech touting ex beau

Second Person Dead In Separate Suspected Terror Shootings In Copenhagen
Gunmen were on the loose after one person was shot dead in a cafe hosting a free speech forum, and another was killed near a synagogue. CBS2 #39;s Cindy Hsu reports. Official Site: http://newyork.cbs...

By: CBS New York

Originally posted here:

Second Person Dead In Separate Suspected Terror Shootings In Copenhagen - Video

Danish prime minister visits
Danish prime minister visits synagogue Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out an attack at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing...

By: Amelia Julie

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Danish prime minister visits - Video

A 22-YEAR-OLD with a history of violence has been named by police as the suspect behind the Danish shooting rampage that left two dead and several more wounded.

CARNAGE: The terrorist's shooting spree began after an attack on a cafe hosting a free speech event [REUTERS]

Omar El-Hussein had a criminal record which included convictions for weapon offences.

He was gunned down by police close to a Copenhagen train station in the early hours of Sunday morning after he opened fire on them.

Police believe he was responsible for attacks on a cafe and a deadly assault on a synagogue.

His killing spree is believed to have been inspired by the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in France last month.

Danish investigators currently do not suspect El-Hussein had visited any overseas jihadist training camps.

Investigator Joergen Skov said no one else was involved in the two attacks in which one man was shot in the head near a synagogue and another killed at a freedom of speech event.

TRIBUTE: Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt places flowers in front of the synagogue in Krystalgade in Copenhagen [REUTERS]

SUSPECT: Omar El-Hussein has been named as the suspect behind the shootings [TWITTER]

Original post:

Shots fired at Danish cafe hosting free speech debate man ...

The suspected gunman killed by police after shooting attacks against a free speech event and outside a Copenhagen synagogue was 22 years old and had a background in criminal gangs, police said Sunday.

The suspect was born in Denmark and had a criminal record, including violence and weapons offences, Copenhagen police said. They didnt release his name.

A Danish film maker at a panel discussion on blasphemy was killed in the shooting Saturday at the free speech event and a member of the countrys Jewish community was killed outside the synagogue. Five police officers were also wounded. Police believe the suspect carried out both shootings alone.

Denmark has been hit by terror, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said. We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrators actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark. They want to rebuke our freedom of speech.

Jens Madsen, head of Danish intelligence agency PET, said investigators believe the gunman was inspired by Islamic radicalism. (AP)

PET is working on a theory that the perpetrator could have been inspired by the events in Paris. He could also have been inspired by material sent out by (the Islamic State group) and others, Madsen said.

Islamic radicals carried out a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris last month, followed by an attack on Jews at a kosher grocery store, taking the lives of 17 victims.

Earlier Sunday, at least two people with handcuffs were taken out by police from an Internet cafe in Copenhagen, Danish media reported. Police spokesman Steen Hansen told The Associated Press that the action was part of the police investigation but declined to give further details.

The Danish Film Institute said the 55-year-old man killed at the free speech event was documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard.

The institutes chief Henrik Bo Nielsen said he was shocked and angry to find out Noergaard was gunned down while attending a discussion on art and free speech.

Continued here:

Danish shooter had gangland past

Islamic terrorism attack on Lars Vilks free speech event in Copenhagen - 1 dead, 3 injured
COPENHAGEN, Denmark A gunman fired on a cafe in Copenhagen as it hosted a free speech event Saturday, killing one man, Danish police said. The event was organized by Swedish artist Lars...

By: AlohaSnackbar01

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Islamic terrorism attack on Lars Vilks free speech event in Copenhagen - 1 dead, 3 injured - Video

Denmark shooting: Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt says #39;terrorist attack
A shooting at a free speech debate in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, is being treated as "a terrorist attack", the Danish prime minister says. Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the attack was "political...

By: World News

Original post:

Denmark shooting: Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt says 'terrorist attack - Video

Copenhagen Krudttnden Cafe Street View
Copenhagen Free Speech Debate Feb 14 2015 Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression Serridslevvej 2B Copenhagen, Denmark http://www.krudttonden.dk/ Music: Already Gone by Wolfman...

By: irisphant

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Copenhagen Krudttnden Cafe Street View - Video