You Don't Have A Blanket Right To Free Speech, So Shut Up

You don't have a blanket right to free speech everywhere you go, so when its time to shut up... just shut up.

The 1st Amendment to the Constitution states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This does not give anyone the right to free speech anywhere they are, what it does is establish that Congress can not make a law that diminishes our freedom to say what we want, with the exception of dangerous or harmful speech in some circumstances. It was later adjusted by a Supreme Court ruling so that it would also apply to state and local government. That does not mean you can say whatever you want, where ever you are. Any person, business or organization has the right to limit the things you can say in their private space. You have a right to limit what people can say when they are on your property. ISP's have a right to decided what kind of content they are willing to host and website forums have the right to set up rules for commenting.

What does free speech mean on the internet? If a web hosting provider decides to take your website down because you violated their rules, they are not violating your 1st Amendment right to free speech. Its similar to being kicked out of a Bar, Cafe, Restaurant, Store or someone's private home for saying something they disagree with, you can't claim your 1st Amendment rights are being violated.

Many websites offer their users the ability to comment on a article, picture or other post. Under the 1st Amendment should any commenter be allowed to say whatever they want in response to those posts? No, then we'd all be wading through pages of stupid comments by idiots and trolls. Any website has the right to establish rules on commenting and if you breach those rules, the website is not violating the 1st Amendment. So don't whine about your right to free speech if your comment gets deleted. Don't scream "censorship!" and don't be a ass. Just shut the fuck up and start a blog or something.