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by bengrunfeld 4684 days ago
I believe that you can't truly speak freely when you don't have any privacy.

This from Wikipedia - Freedom of Speech:

"Freedom of information is an extension of freedom of speech where the medium of expression is the Internet. Freedom of information may also refer to the right to privacy in the context of the Internet and information technology. As with the right to freedom of expression, the right to privacy is a recognised human right and freedom of information acts as an extension to this right."

1 comments

I looked through that wikipedia article as well as citations and related articles, but I can't see any logical connection between freedom of speech and right to privacy. Even though the passage mentions both in adjacent sentences, there is no logical relation. The only possible connection is that speech could be made over the Internet, and privacy could be affected by the Internet, which is tenuous at best.

There is something to be said about anonymity (or lack thereof) and free speech, but I believe anonymous free speech was never a guaranteed right -- the courts always tried to balance the right to anonymous free expression with other rights, such as the rights of those who might be harmed by that expression (e.g. in cases of defamation, fraud, etc.)