The Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace

By Raul Bernardino

Introduction:

Nowadays, the internet is an interactive media in which we called cyberspace or virtual media. This is a media, where everyone or anyone can express themselves by putting their own ideas or other things. Where they will be telling to the listeners or readers about their own ideas or others, their own histories or others, their own cultures or others, and it is including the existing of themselves for intervening and to convince the others to follow their own paths or ideas or even just spreading an information. The information, the fact of materials like videos, pictures, and voice records also can be disclosed by somebody about some interesting news or histories that are most important according to him or her in which is to let the rest of the world knows.

Since those information are publicly available and these can be accessed worldwide by millions and millions people at anytime and anywhere. Therefore, it will be given an impact to others individuals, cultures and societies, either it is giving a positive or it is giving a negative impacts. And these are also totally depends on the recipients or listeners cultures and knowledge to take or to reject.

Therefore, governments have right to intervene with the country regulation and law to minimize the negative impact to the others. However, it is sure that the governments have their own limitation with the geographically boundaries of the other nations law enforcement. And the cyberspace itself has no geographically boundary.

In general, the author of speech willing to tell more and more about what they believe or known to the other entity, in other hand the reader or listener is willing to take a control and even willing to reduce the contain of author’s and interpret as they want. And at the end it might be misleading of the information.

Recent event: Most recently on January 28, 2011 President Barak Obama react to the censorship of the government of the Egyptian. He mentioned in the media communication and he stated “free speech is Human Right”. Furthermore he stated "the people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny."  This is an idea of freedom of the speech to give a high value of the democracy. He President Barak Obama try to convince President Hosni Mubarak that protestors or people of Egyptian have absolute right to speak up and tell the truth of their problems that are not resolved by its own country. 

The positive impact of this event is that President Hosni Mubarak most recently resigned from the president and democracy value has been elevated. The negative impact of this event is that economic situation become worse, no freely movement; schools are closed almost about four to five weeks.

Explain with three categories:

•   “Edited Electronic Conferences”: the most of the media features of the electronic-conferences are list of discussion, news-group, and board of the bulletin. The news users are in listening mode in which they just looking for the interest news that is robust to their needs, it is consistent and not offensive. The editor is who have control of the contain. In this case if the government is the one taking responsibility on the editing point then it is call “censorship”. In same case Egyptian government most recently blocks or censorship all means of communication in the first week of demonstration to not spread the information out from Egypt.
•  “Avoidance of offense”: usually the listeners or readers do not want to hear rude things. If this happened then these speech can be grouped as annoying speech. In this case the Egyptian demonstrators were using banners and others mean to press President Hosni Mubarak to resign from his post.
•  “Parent control over their children access”: this to allow parents to close monitor their children access to offline and online material especial on gaining access to sexual material. In this case parents of the Egyptian have moral responsibility to tell the younger generation that the violence and destruction will not lead to the reform.  

My opinion: In my opinion the freedom of speech is a fundamental right of the human being. It is a universal. However, the freedom of speech has to come with responsibility manner.

Conclusion:  The freedom of the speech is a right of human. Everyone have right to express his or her ideas, however it does not means that he or she has offense someone. It might be in some situation it could be happen but not intentional offense anyone. If everyone have a responsibility on what he or she said or wrote on the electronic media then society value will be higher.

References list:

• Adams, A.A. & McCrindle, R.J. (2008) Pandora’s box: Social and professional issues of the information age. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Ch 4, P.97-126
•  Eugene Volokh(n:n) Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace from the Listener's Perspective: Private Speech Restrictions, Libel, State Action, Harassment, and Sex  [On-line]. Available from:    http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/listener.htm (Accessed Date: February12, 2011) 
•  Negative effect of the internet [On-line]. Available from:    http://www.helium.com/items/790966-negative-effects-of-the-internet (Accessed Date: February12, 2011)
•  Freedom of the Speech [On-line]. Available from:    http://www.answers.com/topic/freedom-of-speech (Accessed Date: February12, 2011)
•  Kimberly J. M., David F., Janis W., (n:n) The exposure of Youth to unwanted sexual Material on the Internet a  National Survey of Risk, Impact, and Prevention [On-line]. Available from:    http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Exposure_risk.pdf (Accessed Date: February12, 2011)
• Remarks by the President Obama on the Situation in Egypt [On-line]. Available from:    http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/28/remarks-president-situation-egypt  (Accessed Date: February12, 2011)