Tim wu is the first amendment obsolete

Internet Environment Censorship: Civic Right Violation Behind Tech Companies

Abstract:

The First Amendment was born in 20th century and had a significant influence on protecting free speech and civic right. As the technology is rapidly developed in 21st century, the First Amendment seems obsolete in the face of information explosion. Tech companies make benefits by controlling speech, market, and even political propaganda. Facebook used its social network to sway the outcome of the 2016 election. Tech companies sell users’ data and disregard personal privacy. Currently there is no feasible solution for this unexpected issue. This article will discuss the infringement on the First Amendment by tech companies, the relationship between civic responsibility of society and censorship of internet environment, and the possible future of online environment. The article will analyze Facebook’s fake news problem and Amazon Echo’s privacy issues.

There is an outburst of internet privacy news in the information age. The benefits behind these illegal behaviors are tremendous. The impact of current technology for the future is despised by tech companies. How to censor tech companies is a conundrum. The censorship for tech companies is from institutions, civilians, and laws.

In 2016, several journalists criticized Facebook for utilizing misleading news, stories, and propaganda in the President election. On April 27, 2017, Facebook confirmed election interference. It turns out that Facebook uses bots to spread misleading post for propaganda. Philip N. Howard says in Junk News and Bots During the U.S. Election: What Were Michigan

Voters Sharing over Twitter? that Facebook has between 67.65 million and 137.76 million fake users. One can hardly estimate the impact of such big number of bots.

The basis of this problem is the lack of specific laws to restrict Facebook’s power. Tim Wu writes in Is the First Amendment Obsolete? that “The mobilization of online vitriol or the dissemination of fake news by private parties or foreign states, even if in coordination with the U.S. government, has been considered a matter of journalistic ethics or foreign policy, not constitutional law.” Fake news is considered as ethical problem instead of violation of laws even it is related to government. It is obvious that ethical issue is only punished by society, and which can hardly solve the issue. There should be institutions to censor Facebook. People should take civic responsibility to ensure the censorship. Moreover, the First Amendment needs improvement to cover online infringement and protect civic right.

There are many companies and institutions working on the censorship of online environment worldwide. However, compared with billions of posts and pictures on the internet, a great quantity of censors is an urgent need. On June 3, 2019, two years after Facebook’s fake news issue, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) started the investigation into Facebook. On July 24, 2019, the FTC announced Facebook had agreed to pay a record $5 billion penalty. Salvador Rodriguez states in How Facebook stumbled to the edge of a government breakup that “The fine was the largest ever imposed on a company for violating consumer privacy. In addition to the fine, Facebook agreed to adopt a new privacy program that would require Zuckerberg and compliance officers to submit quarterly certifications to the FTC assuring the company is in compliance.” In this case, it only takes the FTC less than two months to finish the investigation

and give penalty. The investigation itself is not significant, but how to prevent violation on time. The most efficient way is to increase the number of censors to achieve quick response.

As mentioned above, when an “ethical issue” takes place, public opinion is the most powerful weapon for protest. Facebook’s fake news problem was published by a number of journalists following the election. In the article Donald Trump Won Because of Facebook, Max Read writes: “The most obvious way in which Facebook enabled a Trump victory has been its inability (or refusal) to address the problem of hoax or fake news.” Writers like Max point out the problem and let the public to amplify their voice. It is journalism which starts to fight with tech companies.

However, Masha Gessen argues in his article Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Know What the First Amendment Is For that “Yet Americans are content to leave this essential component of democracy to profit-driven corporations with next to no regulatory oversight… We are so afraid of censorship—or, perhaps more accurately, we have such lazy ways of thinking about accountability—that we would rather let newspapers die and media corporations form monopolies than consider government regulation and public funding.” People are “content to” have these issues exposed but too lazy to exercise and ensure the censorship. The power of journalism is not complete without its audience. “Facebook is not an anomaly in the American media system—it is precisely the result of rampant profit-seeking, lazy thinking, and a lack of civic responsibility.” Civilians may not suppress capitalism, but at least are able to take civic responsibility.

The First Amendment protect right of speech freedom. In the information age, it can hardly play a role on the Internet. In this case, government should make improvement to the First Amendment. Tim Wu thinks in the article Is the First Amendment Obsolete?: “The project of realizing a healthier speech environment may depend more on what the First Amendment permits, rather than what it prevents or requires.” He then gives several possible ways to set up new laws, for example, “New laws or regulations requiring that major speech platforms behave as public trustees, with general duties to police fake users, remove propaganda robots, and promote a robust speech environment surrounding matters of public concern.” The regulations should aim at the existing problem and prevent from the future.

Lee Rainie and other authors predicts in The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online that “Some solutions could further change the nature of the internet because surveillance will rise; the state may regulate debate; and these changes will polarize people and limit access to information and free speech.” Technology has double sides, and the future depends on how we utilize it.

In 2017, much news about Amazon Echo’s privacy issues jumped out in public. Amazon collected customers’ voice recordings, causing massive privacy infringement.

In general, the future of the online environment should escape from the absolute control of tech companies.

Work Sited

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