As a journalist, the First Amendment is paramount. When the Founders wrote, Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,"" they intended to give voice to the people. We could never silence opposition if we wished to escape the tyranny of British rule. In an increasingly digital age, we've had to revisit these rights when it comes to blogging.
Freewhitewater.com is an anonymous blog that has been highly critical of the leadership in Whitewater, which is just 45 miles southeast of Madison. ""John Adams,"" the pseudonym of the anonymous blogger, uses his forum as a way to express his displeasure with the city on a variety of topics, ranging from the school board, to the local newspaper, to the police department.
Things changed when the police started investigating him in an attempt to unmask their anonymous critic.
After an open records request, Adams found that Whitewater Police Chief James Coan, whom his blog had been highly critical of, used police resources to try to find this ""suspect."" According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the e-mails obtained showed ""Coan involved at least two detectives, the city's director of public works, its information technology officer and the city clerk,"" all on the taxpayer's dime.
After investigating Adams for at least four months, Coan thought he found his man in Laird Scott. After meeting with Scott and accusing him of running the blog, Coan wrote an e-mail on Jan. 7, 2008 calling Scott their ""No. 1 suspect,"" and saying, ""Although he denied being John Adams, everything he said in the lengthy conversation that followed served to reinforce our suspicion that he is the guy.""
According to Adams, they were wrong, and he continues his criticism of city officials. But this case shows our often tenuous relationship with our rights to free speech. As Adams writes in a March 5 post, ""If the Chief of Police in Whitewater, Wisconsin worries about political speech when real crimes are being committed, it's sad and disgraceful.""
Unless their writing is libelous, journalists are allowed to criticize the government all they want. If we weren't, every column I've ever written would have landed me in jail. When it comes to anonymous speech, which includes blogs, the Supreme Court has asserted the same rights.
In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the Supreme Court wrote: ""Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views ... Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.""
Judging by the Federalist Papers, which were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay and published under the pseudonym Publius, America's Founders also believe in this right. In fact, we have a system of checks and balances because Madison wrote about this ""tyranny of the majority"" in Federalist 10.
Adams' case shows freedom of speech doesn't end at the newsroom door, and it proves why our government is based on protecting minority points of view. According to the Media Law and Resource Center, there have been 139 lawsuits brought against bloggers. Although some are legitimate libel cases, too many stem from one party trying to reveal the anonymity of the other.
There's a reason the Sedition Act - which passed in 1798 and made it a crime to publish ""false, scandalous and malicious writing"" against the government - has long been considered one of the gravest infringements on freedom of speech ever attempted.
If it were still around today, the inclusion of ""scandalous and malicious,"" open to endless interpretation, would shut down many tabloids, celebrity magazines and blogs across the country.
With a government already restricting our civil liberties through illegal wiretapping, we must always remember that freedom of speech is what our country was founded on. Keep on blogging Mr. Adams. You, and every other anonymous blogger out there who tries to keep our government in check, are doing us all a great favor.
Erik Opsal is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
