Monday, January 21, 2013
Privacy and the first amendment
Several of the Constitutional amendments have come under discussion of late--the first and second most prominently. The second, regarding an armed militia, currently has the greatest interest. But it is the first where we need to focus our attention. For while we worry about our ability to arm ourselves, we need to make sure our free speech is not eroded.
We often feel that the right of free speech is a given. Our ability to say what we want, when we want, is sacred. There are the shouting fire in a theatre limitations, but you can say what you want, when you want. Right?
It depends.
We have often talked about the soap box in the town square. You can profess your beliefs in the town square. But increasingly, the town square is being replaced by the quad in the local mall. You might be surprised, but you don't have free speech in the quad because it is far from the town square. It is not public property. It is private--probably owned by some mega-corporation who doesn't want the flow of shoppers to be sidetracked or interrupted from their purchasing.
This extends to even taking pictures on the property of a mall. I once was checking out a new lens I had purchased and was standing beside my car in the parking lot at a mall in Annapolis. I pointed toward the mall (near the movieplex entrance at that mall) checking the focus when mall cop stopped and asked me what I was doing. I explained I was checking a new lens I had just bought in the mall. He said I could not take pictures of the mall. I assured him I wasn't. Offered to show him my digital viewfinder. He left but I could see he had not moved too far off.
I know that if I had moved off the mall property like to the other side of the street, he wouldn't have bothered me. This was before the popularity of cell phone cameras. I'm sure that mall cop's problems controlling photographers have increased exponentially.
Busiensses--like a mall corporation--are not bound by the first amendment. The first doesn't extend inside the firm's door.
Historically, if you had a complaint about a corporation, you were often a single voice shouting into the wind. It was easy to ignore you. Yes. There was the possibility of class-action law suits, that that was expensive and time-consuming.
The internet as we see it today, changed all of that. Through social media movements can be launched that make corporations take note. More on social media in a later post.
We often feel that the right of free speech is a given. Our ability to say what we want, when we want, is sacred. There are the shouting fire in a theatre limitations, but you can say what you want, when you want. Right?
It depends.
We have often talked about the soap box in the town square. You can profess your beliefs in the town square. But increasingly, the town square is being replaced by the quad in the local mall. You might be surprised, but you don't have free speech in the quad because it is far from the town square. It is not public property. It is private--probably owned by some mega-corporation who doesn't want the flow of shoppers to be sidetracked or interrupted from their purchasing.
This extends to even taking pictures on the property of a mall. I once was checking out a new lens I had purchased and was standing beside my car in the parking lot at a mall in Annapolis. I pointed toward the mall (near the movieplex entrance at that mall) checking the focus when mall cop stopped and asked me what I was doing. I explained I was checking a new lens I had just bought in the mall. He said I could not take pictures of the mall. I assured him I wasn't. Offered to show him my digital viewfinder. He left but I could see he had not moved too far off.
I know that if I had moved off the mall property like to the other side of the street, he wouldn't have bothered me. This was before the popularity of cell phone cameras. I'm sure that mall cop's problems controlling photographers have increased exponentially.
Busiensses--like a mall corporation--are not bound by the first amendment. The first doesn't extend inside the firm's door.
Historically, if you had a complaint about a corporation, you were often a single voice shouting into the wind. It was easy to ignore you. Yes. There was the possibility of class-action law suits, that that was expensive and time-consuming.
The internet as we see it today, changed all of that. Through social media movements can be launched that make corporations take note. More on social media in a later post.
# posted by Richard Polk @ 11:15 AM 
