Emerging First Amendment Debate

So the question is: is liking something on Facebook a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?



Daniel Ray Carter Jr. logged on to Facebook and did what millions do each day: He “liked” a page by clicking the site’s thumbs up icon. The problem was that the page was for a candidate who was challenging his boss, the sheriff of Hampton, Va. That simple mouse click, Carter says, caused the sheriff to fire him from his job as a deputy and put him at the center of an emerging First Amendment debate over the ubiquitous digital seal of approval: Is liking something on Facebook protected free speech?


Carter has filed suited, but this looks like we are going to set a new precedent in the law with this case.


. . . Be careful who you like, it might get your ass fired if your boss does not approve!



http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...c=nl_headlines

Ok thats interesting. Why wouldn't it be. He simply said he liked what someone said on a face book page right?

Talk about one sensitive Sherriff sheesh...

It's not quite as simple as you think. The law in this case involves a government employee, expressing an opinion in opposition to his boss, who is an elected official. Therefore firing him requires reasons beyond what a private firm can do.

Further, the office of deputy is not a political position. Had this been a campaign staffer, there would not be a problem. Also, if this were a private business, there would not be a problem

The question is whether a government employee in a non-political job can express support for an opposing candidate in an election where his boss is also a candidate. It will be an interesting debate. We have protected political speech, and the penalty for exercising such speech will be handed down by government. I suspect the deputy will be ok. But who the hell knows anymore.

Question: Did the employee use a government computer or web address to access facebook....and was it done on government time or the employee's time ?

Social media is creating consequences that no one could have predicted when it first came on the national scene.

In this case, after he won the election, the sheriff fired several employees who had sided with his opponent during the election campaign.

To me, that seems totally wrong and I believe the sheriff knows it too because now he's saying the deputies were actually fired for bad performance.

In the recent Egyptian uprising, Facebook was responsible for helping to organize protesters.

Who would have thunk it?

. . . It looks like we have entered into a new era which will require a new set of laws!

Just like anything else though. If you give a boss a reason to fire you all they have to do is wait around for a politically correct excuse to keep taking marks off of you until they finally make you fire-able. So while our protective measures over directly saying that a person shouldn't be fired for -x- offense, we still have to take into account that there is always a loophole. Unfortunately this can be a big problem with workplace discrimination.

People: Don't you think you need to ask the basic questions first ?

Do you really want employees using government time and equipment for political speech ?

I don't !!!!!!!!!!!

If he was using Facebook on the government clock, that's different. There is no problem firing him for that.

Well; it isn't in the WAPO article....so all this is masturbation......

BTW; dollar-to-doughnuts, the employee did it using government equipment and on government time !

WAPO purposely left the details out of the article...imo.

If he was using Facebook on the government clock, that's different. There is no problem firing him for that. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

If he was using Facebook on the government clock, it is no longer a free speech issue. It's a "do your damn job and quit wasting time" issue.

I think you're allowing yourself to get distracted from the main thrust of this issue with this line of inquiry.

Let us put your "basic question" to rest right now.

Considering the state of technology today, the fact is, your assumption is completely groundless.

It is fairly simple for companies today to install filers in the network for all employee computers such that certain websites are automatically blocked.

All the computers where I work will automatically block anything not related to work, including Facebook, Sports or Shopping and don't even think about porn! If you even keep trying after the first warning, then a message is sent to the IT department and you get a black mark.

At a previous company I worked, some doofus was busy downloading so much porn that it jammed his computer. This was some years back and I guess they did not block certain sites then, but he then called the IT department to get help and he had a response in 5 minutes.

. . . The President of the company showed up in person and fired his ass right on the spot!

People: Don't you think you need to ask the basic questions first ?

Do you really want employees using government time and equipment for political speech ?

I don't !!!!!!!!!!! Originally Posted by Whirlaway

I am not distracted, I am zeroed in on the issue......

If the employee used government computers or time to access Facebook and make political speech, then he should face the consequences....

Are you saying you want government employees to be able to use government equipment and time for purpose of politicing ?

FastGoon, my understanding of the issue is that a deputy was fired for posting on Facebook while he was supposed to be on duty. If that is the case, it is not a free speech issue. If he was off duty, then it could be a free speech issue.

Not sure which is the case.

I can imagine how the military would vote, on a military computer, on a military hook up overseas. Can they be fired then or punished?

What did you have for breakfast, JD? You haven't posted anything that makes sense this morning. This is not even relevant to the issue. Voting is not the same as posting on Facebook. May come as a shock, but it's not. The law requires that employers - all employers - accommodate employees who desire to vote. If a military person uses a government computer overseas to vote, it is because the law REQUIRES the military to do so.

If you want to enact a law that REQUIRES sheriff's deputies to post on Facebook, then we might have a similarity to discuss.

I'm worried about you, JD. Maybe get to the clinic this afternoon. Find out if anything is wrong.