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Free Speech

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Submitted By trmiles
Words 1269
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March 1, 2012

Freedom of speech is the idea that people can speak freely without being stopped, or censored. The United States First Amendment states that people have the right for absolute freedom of speech, which raises concern for when freedom of speech should be limited. Being able to speak freely is important. It allows us to speak our minds without being punished for our ideas. Freedom of speech in relevance to our time is very crucial. More and more people are beginning to voice their opinions and the construction of free speech is one of great importance.
When thinking of free speech many issues and topics come into play. Today it seems that free speech in social networking has become increasingly prevalent. Over four hundred million people across the world are involved in some sort of social network, thus the importance of their voice when dealing with free speech. People want their voice to be heard, especially using things such as Twitter and Facebook. The issue of this however concerns the creators and if they should monitor what is being said on these sites.
If social networking sites were to monitor our every action and every word, would we feel as if they abide by the freedom of speech law? What if one day you logged onto Facebook and there was a notification telling you that you were being monitored and could no longer say whatever you wanted whenever you wanted? Most of us would be outraged and angry that we could not express our opinions. No one wants to have their voice taken away, especially on a social network where opinions are read every day. The next time you post a status or tweet something, think that at any moment your free speech for that site could be taken away.
For this project, I will use the aide of websites, scholarly articles, and journals from the Ball State University database, news networks, and social media sites to help strengthen my argument. Each different type of research will help readers to relate. People who rely on books, as proof will benefit from information in my paper found in the specific books on censorship. With using scholarly journals and articles, we will hear from reporters about the every day problems of censorship within social networks and the media. Using research will allow the reader to see insight on how important and crucial it is to understand censorship and what it means in our world today.
Questioning major issues is always a way to get answers and to explore your knowledge further. In understanding censorship and how it personally effects my life I am asking the question, are social network companies allowed to censor/monitor what is being said on their website? I currently do not know much about this specific topic but through my research and readings, I have learned that it is a huge issue for teens, young adults and anyone who is connected someone to Facebook, twitter and other social networks.
I believe that social network sites should be allowed to check up on the action of their users. There should be rules as to what is appropriate and not appropriate before they can censor what is being said. There are some things however that should be censored, but the true hardship is going about that and keeping in mind the first amendment.

Annotated Bibliography

Ameripour, Aghil, Brian Nicholson, and Michael Newman. "Conviviality of Internet Social Networks: An Exploratory Study of Internet Campaigns in Iran. “Journal of Information Technology 25.3 (2010): 244-57. EBSCO Host. June 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.
This journal article allows readers to see that there are issues with other countries when it comes to using Twitter and other social networks. It focuses on social networks and censorship as well as how it effects our world today.

Barsoumian, Nanore. "Facebook Embraces Turkish Censorship." Assyrian International News 2012: 4-5. Print.
This article is about how Facebook decided to take on the laws of censorship within Turkey. It shows how even internationally censorship in social networks is an issue. It shows readers that other countries are dealing with the same sort of issues with censorship as we are.

Byrd, Cathy. Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship. Atlanta, GA: Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery, Georgia State University, 2006. Print.
This book is a window on censorship and how it's important in the American society. It briefly describes the role of censorship and how it effects us. This will help readers to see how serious of an issue censorship truly is.

Chao, Loretta, and Amir Efrati. "Twitter Can Censor by Country, Service Is Able To Block Tweets Geographically, Marking Content as Withheld." Wall Street Journal (2012). Print.
This article explains how Twitter can censor and block certain things depending of the country. It allows readers to see how censor ship within social networks is not just a United States issue but it is all over the world.

"Facebook." Welcome to Facebook. Editors of Facebook, Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.facebook.com/legal/terms>.
This Facebook site states that privacy policy of its users along with the rights and responsibilities. All of the main legal issues of using this website are held within this specific site. I am using it to provide evidence that Facebook does in fact have a privacy policy and states that it can block certain materials posted and said by users.

Gelman, Lauren Amy, Privacy, Free Speech, and 'BlurryEdged' Social Networks (November 1, 2009). Boston College Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 5, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1520111, 28 Feb. 2012

This sources allows me to expand on how freedom of speech comes into play when dealing with social networks. The article explains the impact of free speech among internet users.

Heins, Marjorie. Not in Front of the Children: "indecency," Censorship and the Innocence of Youth. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001. Print.
This book goes into detail about censorship and how it effects the younger generation. This will aide in explaining how censorship does not target one set of people, but it targets everyone who has a voice. This also allows the reader to understand censorship means for children.

Sibal, Kapil. "No Social Media Censorship." BBC News [India] 14 Feb. 2012. Print.
This article is about social media censorship in India. The way in which is goes along with my paper is that it shows that not only do we have censorship problems in America but in other countries as well. It shows that censorship in social networks seems to be more effected in other countries.

Starobin, Paul. "In New Media, Image Is Still Everything." National Journal (2009). Ball State University Libraries. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=ddda9687-d9f0-451a>.
For this research, question paper the journal serves as an aide in allowing the reader to see how social networking sites work in relation to the media. It strengthens the argument that people are dependent on free speech not only on social networks but also in the media.

"Twitter Censorship." Online Video. TYT Network. 27 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qodJrlzCej4>.
This video talks all about censorship and how Twitter has censored certain tweets. It discusses if this should be allowed and if the company should have the right to censor. This video shows readers that censorship within social networks is an issue and it maybe something to worry about.

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