ISP Fined $5000 For Hate Contenthttp://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/11/2046228&from=rssCurious what people's opinion of this is.
Mine:
People should be able to express themselves non-violently (I don't consider words to be violence) regardless of their opinions, religious choice, sex, sexual orientation, politics, software choices, job, or age.
For instance, take Fred Phelps. I'm pretty sure everyone here is in strong disagreement with this man over a variety of his beliefs, but shouldn't he have the right to express himself? Hate speech laws are dangerous territory, and, in my opinion, scream to be abused (because people are corruptable, for one). Keep in mind, there's nothing that says you can't express your opinion of Mr. Phelps and his opinions.
If you're not convinced:
Although this isn't the best example, take web forums. If the wrong people are mods, and they don't like your opinions, they can simply delete them and censor you. Let's say so-and-so made up a lie about Mac OS X or Linux, and you "correct" them for it. Then your post gets deleted, and you're banned for trolling (even if you were very civil, avoided profanity, etc).
I don't want ever want to be in a situation, where I live in some sort of totalitarian government disguised as one "for the people", and if I speak out against it, I end up in jail for "anti-patriotic hate speech", "anti-government hate speech", etc.