The Realization Of The Network Freedom Of Speech And Its Limits

Freedom of speech is an important basic human right. There aremany discussions on the value and limitation of the freedom ofspeech. In the internet era, de-centrality, interactivity, and anonymityof the internet has broadened the connotation of the freedom ofnetwork speech. The freedom of network speech is playing asignificant role in the promotion of equality, democracy, individualvalue, scientific research, and etc. however, at the same time, theinformation on the internet has been unprecedentedly miscellaniesand exploded, with the spreading of violent and pornographiccontents, as well as false messages. Since the willful expression ofspeech on the internet will harm other private rights, even publicinterests, there should be restrictions on the freedom of networkspeech. This article discussed the value of freedom of network speechthrough analyzing its characteristics. Meanwhile, restrictions shall beimposed on the freedom of network speech, in order to achieve themaximum of its value and guarantee the completeness of themechanism.Start at the “First Wei-Bo Case” widely discussed on the internet,this article can be divided into five parts. The first part analyzed theconcept of the freedom of network speech through the discussion ofits Connotation and extension under the special environment of theinternet. The second part is an analysis on the value of the freedom ofnetwork speech. After the analysis of the new characteristics of thefreedom of network speech compared with the traditional one, theunique value of the freedom of network speech was introduced fromthree aspects: constitutional value, social value, and cultural value. The third part is a discussion on the limits of the freedom of networkspeech from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Thediscussion is focused on the necessity and significance of restrictingthe freedom of network speech. The fourth and fifth parts start fromChina’s current social situation, examined the challenges against therealizations of the freedom of network speech, and put forward somesolutions.The purpose of this article is to discuss the limits of the freedomof network speech, and to reach a balance point between the positiveand negative values of the freedom of network speech. Manyanalytical methods are adopted, such as comparative analysis,sociological analysis, and theoretical analysis. Due to the lack of firsthand materials, there is still room for further improvements on thepractical solutions.