[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Are Your Facebook Likes Free Speech? here

[WilliamGraves]

Fired Over a Facebook Like, wow people who fired those over a Facebook like should commit suicide
.

[DantonDamnark]

When you like something, you are expressing Freedom of Thought.
When you write or say something, you are expressing Freedom of Expression.
Therefore, by clicking the "Like" Button you are showing Freedom of Throught and Freedom of Expression. The only difference is you are using a proxy(the button) to express it for you, in your name.

[DantonDamnark]

WilliamGraves, on 08 August 2012 - 08:34 AM, said:

Fired Over a Facebook Like, wow people who fired those over a Facebook like should commit suicide
.

Clearly, you are unaware why people commit suicide.
Remind me never to go into a movie theater with you. You might think the movie is bad and want to "put the audience out of their misery".

[deepsand]

WilliamGraves, on 08 August 2012 - 08:34 AM, said:

Fired Over a Facebook Like, wow people who fired those over a Facebook like should commit suicide
.

Perhaps those who fail to engage in analytical thinking before making statements such as the above should contemplate their own suicide.

[deepsand]

Those who seek to invoke First Amendment rights under any and all conditions are either ignorant of or chose to ignore the following facts:

• Said Amendment binds only governmental agencies; it does not extend to private entities;
• The purpose of said Amendment is to protect political speech only;
• Freedom to speak does not guarantee freedom from the consequences of speaking; and,
• It is a long and well established principle that speech may be restricted to the extent that it causes harm.

IMO, it is most specious to argue that Facebook "Likes" categorically constitute political speech.

This post has been edited by deepsand: 08 August 2012 - 02:29 PM

[blottobot]

How is this even debatable? There are so many laws being broken in this case. Okay, maybe two, but they're BIG laws. It's freedom of speech, same as if they actually said "I like this page."

[blottobot]

C'mon. Standing naked in public in protest is free speech, but saying you like the other guy (IN AN ELECTED GOVERNMENT POSITION) more than the one already there isn't? It is. The judge is an idiot. In this case, deepsand just proved my point, as this can clearly be considered political speech.

[deepsand]

blottobot, on 08 August 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

C'mon. Standing naked in public in protest is free speech, but saying you like the other guy (IN AN ELECTED GOVERNMENT POSITION) more than the one already there isn't? It is. The judge is an idiot. In this case, deepsand just proved my point, as this can clearly be considered political speech.

Hm-mm; no. Simply saying that you like/dislike one who holds or is seeking public office is not necessarily either public speech or political speech.

Not only did I not prove your point, but, a reading of the Judge's findings in the case in question shows that the matter re. FB Likes was immaterial to his decision.

[deepsand]

blottobot, on 08 August 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

How is this even debatable? There are so many laws being broken in this case. Okay, maybe two, but they're BIG laws. It's freedom of speech, same as if they actually said "I like this page."

Since FB is a site owned/operated by a private entity, and liking PCW is not political speech, you've no First Amendment rights here.

[HaileyKnight]

you can't be too cautious to what you post or like on Facebook. my friend was recently reprimanded because of a comment she made. I recently used networkclean and it found over 50 items that my friends posted deemed inappropriate along with additional security threats with my Facebook settings. It just shows you that you cannot be too careful

[ChristinaGleason]

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Even if the questionable FB Likes are protected by the First Amendment, that doesn't mean they can't have negative consequences. They basically used FB to say they wanted the other guy to win because they didn't like working for their boss. You need to be able to trust the people who work for you, especially in a law enforcement capacity. The fired employees had every right to Like the other guy's page... but that doesn't mean they get a free pass at work.

[dalef]

"Let’s imagine this was a police officer. Is it appropriate for that officer to claim freedom of speech rights to like a page supporting drug legalization when he or she is sworn to prosecute those who possess illegal drugs? Freedom of speech does have limits."

I certainly would find it appropriate if someone sworn to enforce the law finds a certain law counter-productive, immoral, or unnecessary to express his/her opinion and not have to suffer punishment for it. Let's say that an inspector for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered that a flaw in the law permitted tainted food to appear at the supermarket. I would expect this inspector to first inform his superiors, and if this did not resolve the situation, to inform the public.

Back to the matter mentioned in the article, the employees that were fired were employed by the sheriff's department, a government agency, not by the Sheriff himself. This can be proven by examining who paid the employees, which was the sheriff's department. The employees expressing a desire to elect a legitimate candidate to their department, should be protected under the First Amendment, whether they write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, post on a blog, or click the "Like" button on a candidate's Facebook page.

[deepsand]

dalef, on 12 August 2012 - 03:09 PM, said:

Back to the matter mentioned in the article, the employees that were fired were employed by the sheriff's department, a government agency, not by the Sheriff himself. This can be proven by examining who paid the employees, which was the sheriff's department. The employees expressing a desire to elect a legitimate candidate to their department, should be protected under the First Amendment, whether they write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, post on a blog, or click the "Like" button on a candidate's Facebook page.

A reading of the case documents will show the the Facebook "Likes" were immaterial to the Judge's decision.

See Bland v. Roberts

This post has been edited by deepsand: 12 August 2012 - 03:50 PM