Philosophically based limitations to freedom of speech in virtual communities
This paper applies political philosophy to the question of freedom of speech in virtual communities. It takes as its starting point the philosophical justifications given for freedom of speech in (Greenawalt, in Computers, Ethics and Social Values, Prentice-Hall, 1995). For each of these justifications I discuss the types of speech to which they apply, and implications for virtual communities. The justifications imply several limitations to,freedom of speech within a well-run virtual community I give some examples in which the existence of virtual communities can he used to reflect on extant philosophical arguments and practices. By applying the list of steps fbr thinking about systems given in (Churchman. in The Systems Approach, New York: Dell Publishing Co.. Inc., 1968), I obtain a classification framework for thinking about the merits and demerits of ca particular speech act, and describe ca justification fbr freedom of speech. missing from Greenawalt's list, that this classification helped me to identify. I give a summary of practical suggestions fbr administrators of virtual communities. Finally, I discuss why I consider the question of holy to regulate speech in virtual communities matters, from a global perspective.
freedom of speech virtual communities