Freedom of Speech Online

I live in the United States. As such I enjoy an immense amount of freedoms both online and in the real world. I have been doing some research lately into other areas of the world and how people get their message out. It amazes me how hard it is for some people to voice their opinions online. The Global Voices Advocacy group has a guide for anonymously posting online. In places like China or Iran you have to be very careful. In the recent Student Day protests in Iran, a day in which students protest in honor of the killing of student protestors in 1953, students were expelled merely for questioning why other students were expelled. A pretty harse consequence in a country with high unemployment.

So the next time you decide to rant on some topic, either intelligently or unintelligently, remember that it’s the freedoms in the Constitution of the United States that allow you to do so without fear of reprisal. The United States is one of the only countries in the world with that level of freedom. A lot of other countries including many that are considered Democracies don’t have that level of freedom.