[ExI] Transparent Society problem

[Stuart LaForge]

BillK wrote:


> In the UK there exists the Public Order Act 1986 which aims to ensure
> that individual rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are
> balanced against the rights of others to go about their daily lives
> without being harassed, alarmed or distressed. The law states:
> An offence under this section may be committed in a public or a
> private place, except that no offence is committed where the words or
> behaviour are used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation
> is displayed, by a person inside a dwelling and the person who is
> harassed, alarmed or distressed is also inside that or another dwelling.

I can see how that law can be tricky to interpret with the Internet and
all. People can publicly offend someone from the privacy of their own home
these days.

> In effect this means that you can be as offensive as you like in
> private, but you are in trouble if you go around harassing or threatening
> people in public.

Freedom of speech and security from being offended are mutually
incompatible values. And as far as I know, nobody has a right not to be
offended however much the political correctness crowd might protest.

> A case has arisen recently where an offensive private party was
> recorded and the video posted online. The men involved were arrested by
> police on suspicion that a public order offence had been committed and
> their home was searched for evidence. The case has not been decided yet,
> but my opinion is that no charges will be made, on the grounds that the
> men did not expect their private behaviour to be publicised online and
> thus offend the public.

Since in the US, there are no laws prohibiting offensive speech in public
or private, media and industry have become a sort of unofficial political
correctness enforcement mechanism.

> This raises the problem that because we now live in an environment
> where everybody carries a phone that can record video, is there no longer
> the expectation that any offensive behaviour will be private? Do we have
> to always behave as though thousands of people are watching?

If there are people with phones about, then sadly yes. There have been
many instances lately in the United States, where videos of people saying
racist things in private were later posted onto social media.

Whereas the government has been silent on these occasions, the people who
uttered racial slurs in private have been vilified on the media and often
publicly fired by their employers presumably under the auspices of company
public relations.

So yeah, in the U.S. certain types of offensive speech while not illegal,
can still carry some pretty dire economic and social consequences for the
speakers.

Stuart LaForge