NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms
Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000975.html
Personally, I strongly support the concept of gay marriage. Nor have
I ever been within a Chick-fil-A restaurant.
But for many of us who spend a good portion of our lives concerned
about the encroaching loss of freedoms on the Internet, watching the
unfolding of the ongoing Chick-fil-A "gay marriage" saga has been a
painfully depressing experience.
When Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy stated that he defined marriage
as the union between a man and a woman -- that is, the historically
traditional viewpoint -- not only he, but also the individual
restaurants and workers in the Chick-fil-A chain were immediately
subjected to what can only be described as a scathing round of
attacks, based solely on Cathy's citing his personal opinion.
Ironically, many of these attacks came from individuals, parties, and
groups who are normally associated with progressive attitudes and
causes (a notable exception was the virtually always consistent ACLU,
which quickly noted dangers in the expanding vitriol).
Naturally, it is completely within the rights of individuals and
non-government groups to protest views with which they don't agree,
and in the case of a situation such as the Chick-fil-A controversy, to
vote with their wallets by withholding their patronage from the firm.
But the major turn of events, which had the perverse impact of
triggering the "Streisand Effect" and an outpouring of support for
Chick-fil-A, was the pronouncements of various big city politicians
implying that they would try to specifically ban, eject, or otherwise
interfere with the business of Chick-fil-A in their jurisdictions,
based solely on Dan Cathy's gay marriage remark (not, apparently,
based on any accusations of violated regulations or laws on the part
of Chick-fil-A).
That some politicians would cynically sense an opportunity to score
points in this realm is not unexpected, even though such actions by
government targeting Chick-fil-A would be slam dunk unconstitutional.
After all, the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment was
specifically drafted to protect unpopular viewpoints from government
attacks. The Founding Fathers knew all too well what attacks on
speech by government were all about.
And in fact, most of these opportunistic politicos quickly reversed
their boisterous threats against Chick-fil-A, presumably after
horrified calls from their legal staffs.
But again, this is the sort of behavior we have unfortunately come to
expect from many politicians.
What was much less expected, and extremely disheartening, was to see
various progressive forces cheering the obviously repressive threats
of those politicians, with an explicit and frankly terrifying
disregard for constitutionally-protected First Amendment freedom of
speech concerns.
They were distressingly somewhat reminiscent of the torch-bearing mobs
of old, substituting emotion for logic -- in this case equating an
opinion regarding gay marriage with illegal discrimination.
(Obviously, any cases of genuine discrimination in violation of laws
would be actionable, but by and large this was not being invoked in
these protests.)
Those of us who spoke out in favor of the First Amendment in this
case, even as we expressed our support for gay marriage, were still
mercilessly attacked in some venues.
Outside of the shame and counterproductive attention that the First
Amendment deniers have brought upon themselves in this matter, these
events also may illuminate key aspects of the battle for freedom of
speech on the Internet as well.
Much like the protesters attempting revenge on Chick-fil-A in response
to a legal pronouncement of its president's opinion, we see various
forces on the Internet attempting to impose their own interests via
repressive actions against the Internet at large.
Various traditional entertainment interests such as the RIAA and MPAA,
and newer groups like the cyber-fearmongers exploiting overblown
cyberwar fears, continue their efforts at subverting the legal and
legislative systems to benefit their own financial interests -- at
vast cost to the legitimate cause of Internet freedoms.
Calls for search engine censorship, vast surveillance and
anti-encryption regimes, oppressive domain takedowns absent legitimate
due process -- and on and on. These are the tools being deployed to
undermine freedom on the Net.
And much like those politicians willing to throw the Constitution's
First Amendment under the bus in the name of denouncing Chick-fil-A,
we see groups aligned against Internet freedoms who are so focused on
their own narrow interests, that they simply don't care how much
collateral and long-lasting damage they'll do to the Internet
community and freedoms in general in pursuit of their goals.
Of course the global Internet doesn't have a First Amendment, nor a
Constitution at all for that matter.
So we must depend on national governments -- or perhaps more
realistically, the world's Internet users themselves -- to see clearly
the enormous risks brought to bear by muzzling freedom of speech,
especially on the Net, and particularly when controversial issues are
in focus.
Throughout human history, the most powerful weapons of suppression
used by governments against their own citizens haven't been swords or
arrows, or even guns and bullets -- but rather control over
information and speech.
When we willingly endorse the obliteration of others' speech rights,
even for what we might consider to be worthy causes, we inevitably
provide powerful ammunition for those forces who will joyously use the
same logic and means to attack our most cherished goals and beliefs.
Perhaps something to keep in mind -- at home, at work, on the
Internet, and even at the local fast food drive-through.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
- Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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