Governing Internet Expression: An Introduction

Why should anyone care about freedom of expression? Why does it matter that individuals have the ability to speak their mind uninhibited? What inherent value can be found in the seeking, receiving and imparting of information that would cause any society to raise it to the level of a human right? And why should the story and its subsequent narration in modern liberal thought raise the value of free expression to a value worth dying for? Why does speech matter? This chapter sketches out the larger argument being made in this book and argues that free expression, technology and power are deeply interlinked and that only be understanding these linkages can we make sense of freedom of expression online.