# ? On Freedom of Expression **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 30, 2023, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019 "2023-01-30T05:23:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/1 "2023-01-30T05:23:25Z")
For these questions I’ll be referring to both oral and written expression. IANAL but understand a governmental agency cannot fine or imprison someone for freely expressing criticism of the government or it’s policies or laws. That’s not what I’m wondering about. 1. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to listen to someone freely expressing themself orally? 2. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to provide someone a megaphone, public address system, etc. for them to use to freely express themself orally? 3. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to provide a radio or television studio or cameras and sound recorders for someone to freely express themselves? 4. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to rent equipment to someone to use to freely express themself orally? 5. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to provide internet, cable, or satellite distribution of video and/or audio of someone freely expressing themself? 6. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to read a handout, flyer, booklet, article, book, etc. on/in which someone has freely expressed themself in print? 7. As a private citizen, am I under any legal obligation to provide someone pens, pencils, ink, paper, toner, mimeograph stencils and fluid, etc. for someone to use to freely express themself in print? 8. How about providing typewriters, word processing equipment, printing presses, etc. for someone yadda yadda yadda? My non-legal trained opinion is I could be arrested for littering if I just crumple up a handout and toss it on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/2 "2023-01-30T12:17:52Z")
I-3,6-8 no. 4-5, maybe. You’d have to explain why you are renting/providing “as a private citizen” rather tha as a business. And your purported reasons for refusal might be relevant. Not sure why you would accept a handout you didn’t wish. But if you did, you oughtn’t litter. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/3 "2023-01-30T13:48:55Z")
As to 5, if you’re in the business of providing bandwidth, whethercradio, tv, or internet, you’re a “common carrier”. Which includes a bunch of complicated regulations on what you can, can’t, and must do. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/4 "2023-01-30T13:59:05Z")
All of your questions begin with, “as a private citizen”, but the questions themselves seem to ask about things a company would do, not a “private citizen”. “As a private citizen”, I can turn off the TV or change the channel, I can simply not answer the door or the phone, I can throw away snail mail I find offensive or delete and block email of the same, etc. As a company, I cannot discriminate against people because of race, religion, political beliefs, yada yada. So they are two different issues. Right wingers typically ignore the key difference and insist that their personal beliefs and biases should be able to able to govern business dealings. If they can succeed in pushing that successfully, they could bring back the fifties; i.e., “make America great again”, which is what they REALLY mean by the word, “great”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/5 "2023-01-30T15:02:47Z")
Agree completely. But / additionally … There are lots of self-employed or very small biz RW types. Say zero to 10 employees. Who, rightly or wrongly, view their business as an extension of their person. They’re not so much thinking about e.g. AT&T or United Airlines. They’re thinking of themselves and only of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/6 "2023-01-31T07:54:34Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > My non-legal trained opinion is I could be arrested for littering if I just crumple up a handout and toss it on the ground. If you’re in the US, depending on the circumstances, you _could_ face imprisonment. Though I doubt that would happen from such a small amount of litter; it most likely would have to be something pretty egregious, like dumping a washing machine onto the side of the freeway. Most places, a cop would probably just tell you to pick it up, and if you were a jerk about it they might write you a ticket that had a fine attached. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/7 "2023-01-31T18:26:04Z")
That reminds me. I heard you can get in trouble if you put an envelope with your name on it at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/8 "2023-01-31T18:28:53Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I heard you can get in trouble if you put an envelope with your name on it at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage. That will land you on the Group W bench, son. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/9 "2023-01-31T19:03:07Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > IANAL but understand a governmental agency cannot fine or imprison someone for freely expressing criticism of the government or it’s policies or laws. That’s the intent of the First Amendment, but not always the practice. From John Adams’ [Sedition Laws](https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1238/sedition-act-of-1798) to the [Sedition Act of 1918](https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1239/sedition-act-of-1918) to more subtle prohibitions after WWII. Communists were especially persecuted for most of the 20th century. As a private citizen you cannot be compelled to aid someone else’s speech, but what is a “private citizen”? Governmental employees have some protections, but not [complete freedom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions). > The government is not permitted to fire an employee based on the employee’s speech if three criteria are met: the speech addresses a matter of public concern; the speech is not made pursuant to the employee’s job duties, but rather the speech is made in the employee’s capacity as a citizen;[41] and the damage inflicted on the government by the speech does not outweigh the value of the speech to the employee and the public.[42][43] Specifically, speech is “treated as a matter of public concern” by reference to the “content, form, and context of a given statement”.[44] The exception with regards to balancing the harm of a statement and the value of the statement (the [Pickering test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickering_v._Board_of_Education)) is done by considering the degree to which the speech either interferes with close working relationships, disrupts the office, or even has the potential to do either.[45] As for your #3, you might remember the [Fairness Doctrine](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fairness-Doctrine). The airwaves were owned by the government and licensed to radio and television stations. Therefore they were subject to the FCC. In 1959 the Communications Law was amended to compel equal time offered to all office-seekers. > In 1969 the doctrine survived a challenge in the [Supreme Court](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Supreme-Court-of-the-United-States) case [_Red Lion Broadcasting Co._ v. _Federal Communications Commission_](https://www.britannica.com/event/Red-Lion-Broadcasting-Co-v-FCC), in which the court found that the FCC had acted within its [jurisdiction](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/jurisdiction) in ruling that a Pennsylvania radio station had violated the fairness doctrine by denying response time to a writer who had been characterized in a broadcast as a [communist](https://www.britannica.com/topic/communism) sympathizer. No law is so absolute that exceptions can’t be found - or made - to it to suit the powers and eras. Broad statements always come with an asterisk. > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > My non-legal trained opinion is I could be arrested for littering if I just crumple up a handout and toss it on the ground. For littering, possibly. But littering does not take into account the subject on the paper. Of course, if the police were were the ones handing out the paper and you were being contemptuous of it, who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/10 "2023-01-31T19:37:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > As for your #3, you might remember the [Fairness Doctrine](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fairness-Doctrine). The airwaves were owned by the government and licensed to radio and television stations. Therefore they were subject to the FCC. In 1959 the Communications Law was amended to compel equal time offered to all office-seekers. Those are “public airwaves”. Are the internet, cable, and satellite communications considered “public airwaves”? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/11 "2023-01-31T19:38:53Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Are the internet, cable, and satellite communications considered “public airwaves”? No, they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/12 "2023-01-31T19:42:19Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Are the internet, cable, and satellite communications considered “public airwaves”? My understanding is that, no, they aren’t. This USA Today notes that, even if the Fairness Doctrine were still in place today, it would likely not have been applied to Fox News or other cable or satellite networks, as they aren’t considered to be “broadcast” media. > **[Fact check: Fairness Doctrine only applied to broadcast licenses, not cable...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/28/fact-check-fairness-doctrine-applied-broadcast-licenses-not-cable/6439197002/)** > > Posts on Facebook claim that the end of the Fairness Doctrine under Ronald Reagan spawned Fox News. But the doctrine only applied to broadcast TV. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/13 "2023-01-31T20:05:42Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Those are “public airwaves”. Are the internet, cable, and satellite communications considered “public airwaves”? The Internet has a free speech controversy going on right now. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which says “‘interactive computer service’ can’t be treated as the publisher or speaker of third-party content. This protects websites from lawsuits if a user posts something illegal, although there are exceptions for copyright violations, sex work-related material, and violations of federal criminal law." Politicians on both sides want to repeal it. Free speech is a concept and an ideal. The law is neither. ---
**Author:** ![tastysandwiches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@tastysandwiches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tastysandwiches)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/14 "2023-01-31T21:40:47Z")
Assuming you’re talking about the US, all your questions can be answered with “generally no, but…”. 1 and 6: Generally no, you don’t have to listen to someone else’s speech. “Refusing to listen” is not a crime. But refusing to listen can still get you in legal trouble indirectly. If somebody’s shouting “hey, that’s private property, you’re not allowed in there” and you’ve got your fingers in your ears saying “la la la I’m not listening”, you’re still trespassing as long as the court decides that a reasonable person in your situation would have listened. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8: Generally, no, you’re not required to enable someone else’s speech. But if you’re in the business of selling/renting/providing megaphones or pencils or recording space or what have you to the public, you can’t discriminate based on certain specific attributes (race, religion, sex, etc.). You can refuse to let me rent your studio because you think my podcast is boring, but not because my podcast promotes Buddhism. Note that political belief is _not_ a protected class, you can show me the door because my podcast is too woke and/or not woke enough. 5: Same as the last one, but as LSLGuy said if you’re operating as a common carrier then you have to serve all comers equally. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/15 "2023-02-01T02:35:05Z")
As a private citizen, you generally don’t have to do any of that. But if you are operating a commercial business, you generally have to offer your services/products to any paying customer. Specifically, you can’t refuse to serve a customer due to their race, creed, color, etc. – there are specific laws prohibiting this. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/16 "2023-02-01T12:16:41Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > But if you are operating a commercial business, you generally have to offer your services/products to any paying customer. Over the years I’ve had a few people I’ve chosen not to do business with. I’m always careful to point out that I do not want them on my property because they’re an asshole, and assholes aren’t a protected class. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-freedom-of-expression/979019/17 "2023-02-01T12:35:34Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Those are “public airwaves”. Are the internet, cable, and satellite communications considered “public airwaves”? Public airwaves have a limited bandwidth\*, which is why free speech was limited/regulated. Not only w/r to equal airtime, but also PSAs and it’s how the FCC could keep fining/shutting down Howard Stern _et al._ Internet, cable and satellite don’t have that kind of limitation. \*That limited bandwidth is also the reason behind he shift to digital broadcast TV. It was sold as better picture quality (Hah!/s) when it reality as to be able to cram more channels into the same spectrum.