Do we have freedom of speech in SL?

Just wondering. I don't feel we do, but do we have the right to expect it?

Bear in mind that LL needs to protect itself and therefore will not allow certain things to be said.

Ultimatelty LL is a private entity and they have the right to impose any rule they want, which you agree to when you sign up. If you feel as if your rights are being violated you always have the option to close your account and leave.

I'm new to LL and don't feel as if my freedom of speech is being limited more that an Internet Service Provider would, for example.

No.

It's not a democracy. You have no real "rights" whatsoever.

We are not governed by a Constitution beyond the ToS that we sign when we join.

The way I understand it, I'm free to say just about everything as long as I don't openly insult a person and avoid rude / obscene vocabulary (in PG sims). Discriminating or racist talk is also prohibited, that's self understood.

Every online environment I know of uses at least these basic rules. Due to mature areas, SL has even less limitations of expression than other places (otherwise I'd likely not spend my time here ).

Freedom of speech is nothing more, or less, than a means of determining what power, if any, the Government of your country has in deciding what you may or may not say. Various countries have differing levels of such, but I'm going to use the United States Constitution as an example.

Any and all provisions in the constitution and/or amendments, are all aimed at limiting the United States Government's ability to tell you what you may or may not say. Same thing goes for state constitutions.

Since Second Life is not a public place, but rather a business being run by a private entity, such Governmental restrictions do not apply to Linden Labs.

So, do we have freedom of speech? Absolutely. Do we have the reasonable expectation of being free to say whatever we want without any fear of censure from Linden Labs? No. While we are free from Governmental interference, we are still using servers that belong to Linden Labs, and they can make any decisions they want as to how we are allowed to use their servers.

If I am being griefed by my neighbor, do I have the right to tell everyone considering that it may bring his bad behavior to the attention of his customers?

I would say no - at least not on these forums.

Plus, one person's griefer is another person's favorite content creator

Not on the forums. On my land.

There's two sides to every story and you would probably end up being reported for griefing. So I would refrain if I were you.

I feel that we should have freedom of speech in SL.

After all, SL is increasingly international, and covers a myriad of different lifestyles, cultures, belief systems and ethnic groups. What is considered offensive to one culture is perfectly acceptable to another, and what right does someone else have to tell me I'm wrong?

Sitting with your feet up on a chair and shoes off - and showing the soles of your feet - is considered perfectly acceptable relaxation in the US and many parts of Europe, for example... but in Thailand, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries it's considered highly offensive.

In some Arabic cultures, prolonged eye contact is a sign of interest, and not doing so can be seen as a sign of someone being untrustworthy ... yet in the West, it would be considered staring and make many people feel uncomfortable.

When someone shares a religious point of view that makes you feel uncomfortable and offended, whatever that point may be, then by screaming "intolerance" at them is, in fact, reciprocating your intolerance of what you feel is their intolerance.

It's a real nightmare. Personally, I'd rather people would just get over some of these things, and if they don't like what a person is saying, go somewhere else or ignore them... and if it's on your land, send them somewhere else. Linden Lab are busy enough as it is without everyone sending in frivolous reports of "hate speech" and "intolerance" when it's simply someone with a different point of view that you happen to disagree with.

Obviously a lot of it is down to how somehting is said. "Inexpensive clothing for the mature fuller figure" is the same as "Cheap dresses for fat old women"...

Lewis

We have freedom of speech in as much as it is beneficial to LL's bottom line.

It's not perfect, of course but it works, generally, for capitalist countries.

We probably have more freedom of speech on SL than in most cases, so we should be happy.

"Cheap dresses for fat old women"

that's funny

So the persons who sent tons of unwanted items and all those who got massed pop ups of griefornament to all the people I know today have the right to do this?

That wouldn't be free speech. That is freedom of griefing/harrassment, which seemingly is more protected around here than freedom of any speech is. Free speech would be your having the right to proclaim to everyone who is responsible for the ornament, and that is against the rules.

Or atleast, such was against the rules for me earlier today. Not so long ago, masses ganged up against secondlib or whatever it's called, to drag their name through the mud over the copybot issue, and it was fine then. I guess it depends who comes across it and how they're feeling today.

And I'm sure the fact he owns almost the entire sim while I own a mere 5056 sq meters has a bit to do with it to.

I want to say that I disagree with everyone here. Stormy, if you feel he is griefing you and you feel that LL will do nothing about it because he is FIC or otherwise in the know, then yes speak about it here or on your blog. Since when was it your responsibility to protect his customers. This person will mostly say that they weren't and give an excuse. Then it will be up to you to prove it. Take screencaps, be proactive.

Gillian and the others: You are confusing rights, privileges, and consequences. Being a US citizen I have the right to shout anything I want anywhere I want. However, my choice of wordage will invoke consequences depending on my location. Thief on a street corner will get me a few looks. Shouting fire in a full theater will get me arrested. Neither time I lost my rights. But being in a theater is a privilege that I pay for and part of that is having the intelligence and wisdom not to say certain things.
We all agreed to take part in the privilege of being in SL. So we must have the intelligence and wisdom not to do or say certain things.

If there really is a thief on the street corner or a fire in the theater, you will be a hero, not a criminal.

True but not the point. Thanks for understanding though.

Yes, I understand. The point I made was partly what ticked me off today. I was told I was NOT "allowed to defame an individual by spreading slander." Who here knows what slander is? The main thing it is is false (rumors, lies). However, as evident by the hotpink lighted walls surrounding half of my property (only on my side), what I said was indeed fact, not slander. Even worse, after several abuse reports for the various things he's done, I've seen nada from the Lindens until HE filed one on me, then they got over there lickety split.

So I learned an important lesson today. Here, you can DO pretty much anything to people as long as you don't SAY anything.

Of course you have total freedom of speech in SL. Say whatever you want wherever you want to say it.

The only deal here is the same as First Life. You say the wrong thing in the wrong place and you will be punished to the full extent of the law.

That really isn't too hard to understand.

Thunderclap Morgridge, in that case everyone in every country has freedom of speech. it's the consequences that change.

orwell got it right.... we all have freedom of speech, but some have more freedom of speech than that others.

Of course we have freedom of speech! Every single SL user has the right to create a website or blog and say whatever they want to.
Id say LL does their fair share of censoring but why wouldn't they want to??
SL is LL's world and we're choosing to abide by their terms.. which means there's certain guidelines inworld and certain guidelines on the forums... but besides that, we can say whatever the hell we want to.
Why would LL tolerate people coming into their world, utilizing their communication tools, taking advantage that LL has gathered thousands of people together, and then blast them?
LL can do whatever they want within the confines of SL, and we can do whatever we want outside of that.

Freedom of speech is simple, you either have it or you don't. If you have to watch what you say, you're not free.

Someone earlier mentioned capitalism. One of the sometimes sad facets of capitalism and a paraphrase of Orwell since someone mentioned him;
All capitalsts are equal. Some are more equal than others.
Another phrase comes to mind - Sticks and stones may break my bones but words cannot hurt me.
Consider both together and it's easy to see that if you defame someone bigger and more powerful than you, the retaliation will knock you down. This is how so many of the wrong people have made it to power in the world - not the nicest but the most powerful.
I digress.
If your only problem is pink walls, put your own up in front. It's really all you can do without starting a war

We don't even have freedom of speech by the standards of a typical MMO. Mythic Entertainment and Sony look like they're falling all over themselves to encourage and listen to customer feedback compared to Linden Labs these days.

So no. And no and no and no besides. What we have is LL's unofficial motto, the one that goes so well with their logo:

"Talk to the Hand."

If I say something diffamatory about you I risk being take to court. LL may be liable too as publishers of the information.

So I have to watch what I say. Does this mean I'm not free?