We encourage you to read more about the important issues that affect our increasingly technology-driven lives, and how our democracy is strengthened or weakened by reliance on digital technology.  The bibliography below suggests valuable references for the topics discussed on “Digital Democracy and Freedom of Speech.” 
 

Can freedom of speech be assured on the Internet?
Can we bridge the digital divide for persons of different ages, races, income levels and abilities?
How does domestic wiretapping legislation affect freedom of speech?
Are privacy rights being eroded by poor public policies?
Is citizen journalism the answer to free exchange of ideas?
How are public records used and misused?
How does access to the Internet differentially affect individuals in the U.S. and the world?
How have corporations exercised "freedom of speech?"
Has the U.S. government sacrificed personal freedoms for security and bureaucratic efficiency?



Question:   Can freedom of speech be assured on the Internet? 

Nunziato, Dawn (Spring, 2005). “The death of the public forum in cyberspace,” Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 20 (2), p1115-1171.

      The article discusses the internet as a forum for free expression and the courts’ refusal to subject internet users to First Amendment standards. 

“How protesters use the internet”, CQ Researcher, (Sept 17, 2004), 14 (32), p771-771.

      A case study involving the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposed to the criminal investigation against an anti-Republican Party web site by the US Justice Department.  

Riley, Jason L. (1999). “The internet vs. the First Amendment”, Wall Street Journal-Eastern Edition, (Oct 25, 1999), 234 (81), pA53.

      A discussion of the internet on free speech in the United States, the significance of intellectual property in US democracy, and the status of the copyright law. 

Snow, Tyson (2004). “Adding marks to the mix of an already muddled decision regarding public forums and freedom of speech on the internet,” BYU Journal of Public Law, 19 (1), p299-316.

      Decisions regarding Public Forums and freedom of speech on the Internet.  

Rowbottom, Jacob (July, 2006). “Media freedom and political debate in the digital era”, Modern Law Review, p489-513.

      The impact of online expression on theories of media freedom.  

“Governing the internet,” eWeek, (Nov. 21, 2005). 22(46), p36.

      Discusses various issues related to the control of Internet. The article addresses how the way the Internet is managed could affect issues ranging from free speech to the worldwide conduct of business on the Web. 



Question: Can we bridge the digital divide for persons of different ages, races, income levels and abilities? 

Gandy, Oscar H. Jr. (2002) “The real digital divide: Citizens v. consumers” in L. Leivrow and S. Livingstone (Eds.). The Handbook of New Media, (Sage,). pp. 448-460.

      Analysis of how citizens are viewed as participants, or consumers in society. 
 

Baker, Paul M.A., Moon, Nathan and Andrew C.  Ward.. (2006) “Virtual Exclusion and Telework: Barriers and Opportunities of Technocentric Workplace Accommodation Policy,” WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation. 27 (4)

      Explores how teleworking may increase opportunities for hiring people with disabilities, but it might also place severe constraints on type of work, workplace environment and personal interactions, and accumulation of social capital for people with disabilities. 

Baker, Paul M.A., and Christine Bellordre. (December,2003). “Factors Influencing Adoption of Wireless Technologies - Key Policy Issues, Barriers and Opportunities for People with Disabilities”  Information Technology and Disabilities. 9 (2).

      Wireless technologies routinely used by the general population are frequently inaccessible to persons with disabilities; this article discusses the  barriers to the use of these technologies by people with varying disabilities.  

“The World Information Society Report 2007”, WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society, http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=838

      Citing a shrinking digital divide (especially in the area of mobile telephony), the affordability of broadband remains a cause for concern.  At the start of 2007, broadband was available in 170 countries, but still remains 10 times more expensive in low-income countries, and is often unavailable in rural areas. 

“Binary America: Split in two by a digital divide,”Washington Post (July 23, 2007).

      Cites Andrew Rasiej, a member of a panel studying universal Internet access in New York, who claims the digital divide in the U.S. is worse than it was 10 years ago, with the divide occurring between corporate and private lives. 



Question: How does domestic wiretapping legislation affect freedom of speech? 

“New rules on internet wiretapping challenged; redesign costs are cited”, The Washington Post, (Oct 26, 2005).

      Cites Lee Tien, a senior staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who says it’s a bad idea for government to design technologies (like the Internet) to be surveillance-friendly when it comes to privacy and free speech 

Kennedy, Edward M. (December, 2005), “On wiretapping, Bush isn’t listening to the constitution,”The Boston Globe, http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/b_globe/2005-12-22_bglobe_kennedy_on_wiretaps.pdf

      Compares the effect of wiretapping to a federal agent showing up at your home when you check out a book from the library; dicusses the chilling effect on free speech and academic freedom. 

“Judge rules NSA surveillance program is unconstitutional,” Congress Daily, (Aug 17, 2006).

      Tells the story of how the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who believe the National Security Agency’s surveillance program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. 

Bamford, James. (April, 2006), “Big brother is listening”, The Atlantic Monthly, 297(3), p65-70.

      Discusses the range of the NSA’s ability to scan tens of millions of electronic communications, such as e-mails, faxes, instant messages, Web searches and phone calls. The author discusses questions regarding the legal protection of citizens' rights. 

“Domestic wiretapping affects you!,” Editorial,(January, 2006). The Stanford Daily, http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/1/26/subjectDomesticWiretappingAffectsYou

      Discusses the impact of wiretapping on an average student. 



Question:  Are privacy rights being eroded by poor public policies? 

Gandy, Oscar H., Jr. The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information

(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993): (Japanese translation, published by Dobunkan Shuppan, 1997).

      One of the seminal texts on the growing threat of surveillance and control in the U.S. and the world. 

Gandy, Oscar H., Jr. "Legitimate business interest: No end in sight? An Inquiry into the Status of Privacy in Cyberspace." University of Chicago Legal Forum, Volume 1996, pp. 77-137.

      Discusses how the collection, processing, and use of personal information in the computer-network environment contribute to a loss of power and autonomy. 

Swartz, Nikki (Nov/Dec, 2005), “Federal agencies aren't protecting privacy, report says”, Information Management Journal, 39(6), p16.

      Reports on the failure of U.S. administrative agencies to adequately protect privacy rights when using data mining or knowledge discovery tools. 

Jane E. Fountain. “Central Issues in the Political Development of the Virtual State,” in Manuel Castells and Gustavo Cardoso, eds. The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2006). 

Mcallister, Darryl. (May 2007), “Law enforcement turns to face-recognition technology”, Information Today, 24(5), p50-51.

      Discusses race-recognition biometrics as a pervasive, unobtrusive surveillance technique that can threaten individual privacy rights. 

Single, Ryan (July 25, 2005), “Legislators split on data privacy laws”, eWeek, 22(29), p14.

      Discusses what could happen in the next few years if technological innovation and public policy trends in online storage, location tracking and biometrics remain on their current status.  



Question: Is citizen journalism the answer to free exchange of ideas? 

Potter, Deborah, (2006) Handbook of Independent Journalism, (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State) http://www.usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/journalism/journalism.pdf

      A valuable resource that discusses the profession and craft of journalism, and the responsibility of journalists to contribute to information for a free society. 
 

Bowman, S. and Willis, C. (2003) "We media: How audiences are shaping the future of news and information." The Media Center at the American Press Institute.

http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf

      A thorough discussion on the history and implication of citizen journalism (participatory journalism). 

“Blogs and freedom of speech”, Worldpress.org (June 6, 2006), http://www.worldpress.org/2373.cfm

      Analyzes how blogs allow individuals to exercise freedom of speech.  

Seelye, Katharine Q. (July 4, 2005). “Hands-On readers”, New York Times, 154 (53265), pC1-C4.

      The article describes citizen journalism (participatory journalism) that allows the public to influence the content and focus of the news media, including contributions through blogs, photographs, and podcasts. 

Bressers, Bonnie. (March, 2003). “Civic journalism goes online”, Quill, 91(2), p25.

      Discusses ways in which newspapers offer readers the opportunity to exchange ideas through online civic journalism.  

“Weblog background information for journalists”, PJNet Academy, (2007), http://pjnet.org/academy/

      Quotes Dick Morris who views the Internet as the essence freedom, by providing the opportunity to all to become “publishers” of news and information. 

“Citizen Journalism”, Nieman Reports, (Winter 2005), 59 (4), p4-5.

      A valuable resource on the emergence and practice of citizen journalism.  



Question: How are public records used and misused? 

“Open season on open records,” New media and the law, (Summer 2006), 30 (3), p27-29.

      Focuses on concealed-weapon permits and legislative e-mail messages which were targets for secrecy in 2006 in U.S. statehouses. An amendment was added to legislation in Ohio aimed at strengthening its public records law banning journalists' access to some types of records. 

“Government record inquiries increasing”, Information Management Journal, (Jul/Aug2006), 40 (4), p10.

      Deals with citizens’ growing interest in city records,  forcing several U.S. cities to consider open records seriously.  

Brenner, Andrew. (Spring 2005), “Breaking the records law,” News Media & the Law, 29(2), p29-30.

      The author reports that in many states, law enforcement agencies are the most likely to break the law by refusing to release public records.  

Harmon, Amy. (August, 2001). “As public records go online, some say they're too public,” New York Times, 150 (51855), pA1.

      Addresses the debate over online access to public recordes, like voter registration and court records. 
 



How does access to the Internet differentially affect individuals in the U.S. and the world? 

Baker, Paul M.A., and Andrew C. Ward. (2002). “Bridging Temporal and Spatial “Gaps”: The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Defining Communities.” Information Communication and Society, 5 (2) 207-224.  

      Focuses on the infrastructure of the Internet and the emergence of (virtual) communities based on geographically distributed sources of information production and exchange rather than the geographic proximity of community members to each other.     

Susannah Fox, “Digital Divisions,”  (October 5, 2005), Pew Internet & American Life Project, http://www.pewinternet.org_/pdfs/PIP_Digital_Divisons_Oct_5_ 2005.pdf

      Results of survey data indicating differential access to broadband technologies in the U.S. 

Gandy, Oscar H., Communication and Race: A Structural Perspective,  (Edward Arnold and Oxford University Press, 1998).

      A scholarly approach to understanding race and ethnicity in information media, starting with issues of structure and agency and ending by proposing an agenda for the development of critical theory in the area of race and ethnicity. 

Internet ignorance will kill hope and ambition. Western Mail. (December 16, 2005), p20.

      The differences and effects of internet access in UK, Wales, India and China. 

“Digital Britain: Digital divide grows for older Britons as others connect to new media”, The Guardian, (March 16, 2007),  p.8.

      The lack of internet access affects the lives of older Britons. 



How have corporations exercised “freedom of speech?” 

“Corporations and free speech,”,Multinational Monitor, (May 1998), 19 (5).

      Discusses the ways in which a corporation can encourage the practice of free speech for employees.  

Soley, Lawrence,” Censorship, Inc.: The corporate threat to free speech in the United States. Monthly Review Press. New York.

      Soley shows how corporate power has grown to influence the issues on which ordinary Americans should be able to speak out. New strategies have been developed to restrict free speech on issues in which corporations and property-owners have an interest. 

Lane, Brian. (May 2004), “The Abuses of Corporate Personhood”, USA Today Magazine, 132, p24-26.

      Discussesg the ways corporations use their First Amendment right to free speech and their Fourth Amendment right to privacy rights. 

Diamond, Harris. (July 2003), “Court's decision a blow to free speech,” Brandweek, 44 (27), p21.

      A case study of the Supreme Court’s decision not to rule on the false advertising case against Nike, and its implications for corporations’ free speech rights. 
 

Gowri, Aditi. (December 1998). “Speech and spending: Corporate political speech rights under the First Amendment,” Journal of business ethics, 17, 1835-1860.  
 



Question: Has the U.S. government sacrificed personal freedoms for security and bureaucratic efficiency? 

Fountain, Jane E., Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change, (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001).

      An analysis of government, agency organizations, including the military, and the effect of using digital technology for internal communication and decision making. 

Gandy, Oscar H. Jr. “Data mining, surveillance, and discrimination in the post-9/11 environment,” in The New Politics of Surveillance and Visibility, K. Haggerty and R. Ericson, (Eds.) (University of Toronto Press, 2006), .pp.363-384.

      A discussion of how data mining extracts knowledge from patterns that emerge, and the destructive nature of the practice on personal privacy. 

“Privacy and federal agencies: Government exchange and merger of citizen’s personal information is systematic and routine”, Privacilla org (March, 2001). http://www.privacilla.com/releases/Government_Data_Merger.pdf

      Discusses the “Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act,” which results in legal changes to control of databases concerning personal information about American citizens.