| CARVIEW |
Free Speech
Email allows groups to grow from a dozen friends to a hundred hobbyists to a huge, national organization. Meanwhile, blogging is transforming journalism, and websites like Wikipedia and the Internet Archive are part of a new Library of Alexandria being built online.
In countless ways, the Internet is radically enhancing our access to information and empowering us to share ideas with the entire world. Speech thrives online, freed of limitations inherent in other media and created by traditional gatekeepers.
Preserving the Internet's open architecture is critical to sustaining free speech. But this technological capacity means little without sufficient legal protections. If laws can censor you, limit access to certain information, or restrict use of communication tools, then the Internet's incredible potential will go unrealized.
The government has time and again tried doing just that—indeed, censorship laws have often aimed at speech that could not be similarly restricted offline. And when old laws are not properly adapted to this medium, it's all too easy for the government, companies, and individual litigants to undermine your rights.
EFF defends the Internet as a platform for free speech and believes that when you go online, your rights should come with you. Learn more below and consider supporting our efforts.
Free Speech Cases
- Indymedia Server Takedown
- Sapient v. GellerEFF is fighting back against Uri Geller -- the "paranormalist" famous for seemingly bending spoons with his mind -- on behalf of a YouTube critic who was silenced by Geller's baseless copyright claims.
- Apple v. Does
- First Cash v. John Doe
- Online Policy Group v. Diebold
- E. Van Cullens v. John Doe
- Williams v. Donald
- Eli Lilly Zyprexa Litigation
In The News
- TELEGRAPH | December 10, 2008 The Internet Watch Foundation must learn from the Wikipedia debacle
- DIAMOND WORLD | December 08, 2008 Tiffany caught in a legal tryst
- COMPUTERWORLD | December 04, 2008 De Beers tries to force spoof news Web site offline over fake ad
Related Issues
- No Downtime for Free Speech CampaignLearn about how copyright claims can inhibit free speech
- CyberSLAPPCases that involved defending the right to anonymity
- Anonymity
Deeplinks Posts
- December 09, 2008 Internet Censors Must Be Accountable For The Things They Break
- December 01, 2008 Change.gov Content Now Under Creative Commons License
- November 25, 2008 Censorship in the 21st Century: Targeting Intermediaries
Press Releases
- December 04, 2008 Jewelry Company Quest to Expand Trademark Law Could Quash Internet Commerce
- November 13, 2008 Court Must Vacate Kentucky Court's Baseless Domain Name Seizure
- June 05, 2008 EFF Asks Judge to Block Unmasking of MySpace User
