. An antiabortion website posted lists of doctor who perform abortions and judge
ID: 3722145 • Letter: #
Question
. An antiabortion website posted lists of doctor who perform abortions and judges and politicians who support abortion rights. It included address and other personal information about some of the people. When doctors on the lists were injured or murdered, the site reported the results. A suit to shut the site for inciting violence failed. A controversial appeals court decision found it be legal exercise of freedom of speech. The essential issue is the fine line between threats and protected speech a difficult issue that predate the internet. Does the fact that this is a website rather than a printed and mailed newsletter makes a difference? What, if any issues in this case relate to the impact of the internet. please if possible a detailed answer. thank you.
Explanation / Answer
As it is mentioned in the question itself, the issue is the fine line between threats and protected speech.
legally the site cannot be shut down since it is the legal exercise of freedom of speech, but it is quite unethical if its action becomes a threat to anybody else.
Not only the website, also the others have rights to freedom of speech whatever their opinion is.
If this was printed and mailed letter rather than a website, the chances of an attack against the people may not happen because the reach of that kind of media is not effective to the users.
And surely, this case closely related to the impact of the internet on the society.
people are getting the updated information and the internet act as a platform to get together for the people who got the same views to share their thoughts.
Also, the social media on the internet provides all the communication facilities without any barriers so people are able to share their thoughts and plan actions.
in this case, the people who are against abortion may be formed a group by using the internet as a communication medium, and they used the website for getting the details of those who are supporting abortion and may be attacked them to be murdered.
this shows the large impact of the internet on social issues, that is not only ended up in some expression of protest but also leads to a planned attack against their enemies.
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