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ChristopherPistrittoFirstPaper 5 - 05 May 2017 - Main.ChristopherPistritto
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| | | Consider now the application of Doe to the pervasive issue of omnipresent surveillance by private platforms authorized by government laws. While the first amendment seemingly protects Google’s right to configure its search algorithm it somehow does not protect the freedom of speech and association enshrined in the civil rights era Supreme Court case National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Patterson when a citizen is online. This is despite the fact that the same suppression of free speech and association discussed therein has been shown to apply in the online space on Facebook where people refrained from joining groups or posting comments with minority opinions, or on Wikipedia where in the wake of the Snowden revelations searches for relevant wiki pages dropped a dramatic 30% as the public became aware they were being watched. The empirical proof of a chilling effect on online speech and association, discovered through both statistical analysis and sophisticated polling techniques, would seem to correlate mass surveillance whether done by private entities for profit or government fiat for the illusion of security. | |
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< | Thus there is clear, demonstrated harm to public discourse due to the public enabling of both public and private surveillance, a theory of chilling effect has found some an adherent in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (“EFF”) case First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA (“First Unitarian”). There the EFF argues that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts (“FISA courts”) public order regarding bulk telephone surveillance infringes on freedom of association, with the strategy of leveraging a victory in First Unitarian to the analogous online scenario. While such a strategy would be unnecessary in an ideal legal environment, the twin political realities of the security state and a faltering FCC have left little legal recourse outside of constitutional guarantees to be decided, ultimately, by the United States Supreme Court. Yet until and unless the EFF prevails, technological solutions of the same type being discouraged and curtailed around the world are the last recourse for those who wish to speak freely, secretly, and autonomously online. | >
> | Thus there is clear, demonstrated harm to public discourse due to the public enabling of both public and private surveillance, a theory of chilling effect that found an adherent in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (“EFF”) case First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA (“First Unitarian”). There the EFF argues that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts (“FISA courts”) public order regarding bulk telephone surveillance infringes on freedom of association, with the strategy of leveraging a victory in First Unitarian to the analogous online scenario. While such a strategy would be unnecessary in an ideal legal environment, the twin political realities of the security state and a faltering FCC have left little legal recourse outside of constitutional guarantees to be decided, ultimately, by the United States Supreme Court. Yet until and unless the EFF prevails, technological solutions of the same type being discouraged and curtailed around the world are the last recourse for those who wish to speak freely, secretly, and autonomously online. | | | |
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