Drawing the ‘Online’ Line On Free Speech

Commentary
Inside the First Amendment

By Gene Policinski
First Amendment Center vice president/executive director

When and where do we draw the line on free speech?

That’s “we” as in you and I, and our fellow citizens — and the “where” increasingly involves the Internet.

The First Amendment generally prevents our government from drawing such a line in all but a very few, tightly defined areas of speech: true threats, harassment, fighting words, child pornography and…