Document:Libertarian Party Radical Caucus Platform 2016: Difference between revisions

Draft of 'freedom of communication' plank.

We defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right of individuals to unfettered  expression. We recognize that freedom of expression is possible only as part of a system of full property rights. The freedom to use one's own voice; the freedom to hire a hall; the freedom to own a printing press, a broadcasting station, or a transmission cable; the freedom to host and publish information on the Internet; the freedom to display or burn one's own flag; and similar property-based freedoms are precisely what constitute freedom of communication. At the same time, we recognize that freedom of communication does not extend to the use of other people's property to promote one's ideas without the voluntary consent of the owners.  

We oppose any abridgment of the freedom of speech through government censorship, regulation or control of communications media, including, but not limited to, laws concerning:

-- Obscenity and pornography, as we hold this to be an abridgment of liberty of expression despite claims that it instigates rape or assault, or demeans and slanders women;

-- Reception and storage equipment, such as digital audio tape recorders and radar warning devices;

-- Electronic bulletin boards, social networking and filesharing sites, communications networks, online marketplaces, and other interactive electronic media as we hold them to be the functional equivalent of speaking halls and printing presses in the age of electronic communications, and as such deserving of full freedom;

-- Commercial speech or advertising.  

We oppose speech codes at all schools that are primarily tax funded. Language that is deemed offensive to certain groups is not a cause for legal action.  

We strongly oppose the government's burgeoning practice of invading newsrooms, or the premises of other innocent parties, in the name of law enforcement. We further oppose court orders gagging news coverage of criminal proceedings -- the right to publish and broadcast must not be abridged merely for the convenience of the judicial system. Members of the media should not have any special protections not available to everyone, including the right not to reveal sources to investigators or courts.

 

Removal of all of these regulations and practices throughout the communications media would open the way to diversity and innovation. We shall not be satisfied until the First Amendment is acknowledged to provide  full, unconditional freedom of communication.