The US needs GDPR-equivalent laws ASAP.
If this argument succeeds, even GDPR wouldn't save us since they're making a constitutional argument, not an argument based on the US code.
Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
21–30 of 150 posts
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#22Sure. Just get the corporate entity to say a single word. No representatives. No notes. No proxies. No robots. No automated voices. The actual corporate legal entity. Not even the CEO. No clever stand-ins with same name. Just one mouthed, audible word to confirm the entity can qualify for speech. Then we can consider "free speech" for that entity. I can only dream this would hold up even as I know there are likely do…
How do you handle the us government censoring newspapers, Wikipedia, etcetc if this is your demand?
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#23If municipalities stop giving them local monopolies they can have rights again. Until then, they should be beholden to strict rules.
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#24That's not how "free speech" works. That right isn't violated by privacy protection laws.
Free speech states that a state isn't going to prosecute you directly for whatever you may say. But that doesn't mean you are free from the consequences of what you're saying.
Privacy protection simply states that any legal person who feels that your actions violated the consent they gave, is free to sue you via the legal system for compensation for damages incurred. Which has little if anything to do with free speech.
If a telco uses the "free speech" argument, they essentially argue "we're a media company and we are accountable for what we publish".
If we're discussing media companies, it's interesting to note that these pull the "freedom of press" card to defend divulging person or confidential information in news outlets.
At this point, the entire discussion becomes rather silly semantics.
Interestingly, many EU countries also have "secrecy of correspondence" enshrined as a fundamental principle into their constitutions. The U.S. does not:
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#25Sounds like I have an equal first amendment right to publicly expose the personal cell phone numbers and home addresses of every lawyer, corporate executive, and lobbyist who think this is a good idea.
No you don't. Those folks are a different class of people than you, a better class, a class that deserves privacy - us peons aren't important enough to have to worry about that stuff.
That's what they'll argue anyway. They'll use different words, but whatever words they use will carry that message.
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#26Sure. Just get the corporate entity to say a single word. No representatives. No notes. No proxies. No robots. No automated voices. The actual corporate legal entity. Not even the CEO. No clever stand-ins with same name. Just one mouthed, audible word to confirm the entity can qualify for speech. Then we can consider "free speech" for that entity. I can only dream this would hold up even as I know there are likely do…
How do you handle the us government censoring newspapers, Wikipedia, etcetc if this is your demand?
...
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
A mute person has the right too :)
A mute person can write. Or sign. A corporate entity doesn't communicate in any way. Because... It obviously cannot .
Freedom of speech exists so that entities are presumed to be able to say things without interference from the government. An absolutist stance such as yours results in things like governments disincorporating newspapers that publish politically unfavorable content simply because the newspaper is s corporation and it can't itself physically speak (or write something, or publish something) without a human intermediary.
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#28watering down freedom of speech because why not
As soon as companies and businesses were considered "people" and got the same rights, it all became a farce.
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#29That's not how "free speech" works. That right isn't violated by privacy protection laws. Free speech states that a state isn't going to prosecute you directly for whatever you may say. But that doesn't mean you are free from the consequences of what you're saying. Privacy protection simply states that any legal person who feels that your actions violated the consent they gave, is free to sue you via the legal system…
The US has the ninth amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_Amendment_to_the_United_... which is the out for anything the founders didn't think of. (There is a massive amount of controversy around this, Wikipedia just scratches the surface)
Re: Telecoms say they have a First Amendment right to sell private data
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you handle the us government censoring newspapers, Wikipedia, etcetc if this is your demand?
...
Newspapers do not have a specific call-out. The printing press does, which was simply the most advanced method of spreading your speech at the time.
The founders wanted the ability to print what they wanted and, just as importantly, not be forced by the government to print things they didn't want to.