Twitter and the First Amendment

Apparently, 2011 is the year when Twitter, Facebook, and smartphone videos are graduating from Social Networking toys to evolutionary, revolutionary Sociology tools. Can they be controlled by governments or big business? It's been argued that any such controls might run afoul of Amendment No. 1 from our Bill of Rights ... how amazing for a clever hack that originated in a daylong brainstorming session. Freedom of Speech, Assembly, and the Press What is a tweet? 140 characters - one or…

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Free as in … the Open Source Refrain – Improved!

I'm not going to recount the history and foundations of open source software, just point out that the word "free" has long been a point of contention when folks talk about "free" software. For clarity, the open-source crowd will refer to ... Free (as in Speech), meaning the user's freedom to run, copy, distribute a piece of software Free (as in Beer), meaning the software is available at no cost BTW, the world is really into their free beer -…

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