This article addresses the right to free speech and if that applies
to computers. Specifically, Google is
making a case that the results of a Google search are protected under the first
amendment. The argument is that the computer
makes a choice to place the search results in that specific order, thus making it
“speech” and protected under the first amendment. This idea seems more reasonable when placed
in context; commercial speech and political expenditures are currently protected
as free speech. Although the first
amendment only disallows laws being made about free speech and does not specify
it protecting only people, that has been the primary assumption up until this
point. Personally, I do not believe that
computers or other inanimate objects should have the right to free speech. Especially with the case of Google, someone
programmed that search engine to make the choices it makes; it can’t make
decisions for itself; someone has to tell it what to do. I think that possibly a person’s programming
could be considered speech, but the actual computer doesn’t have those
rights.
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