Is this a violation of free speech?

[Bob Stepp]

Some school districts and businesses are prohibiting their employees from from making any remarks or associating themselves with the district or business on social net works such as Face Book, Twitter, etc...

Should they have that power???

[Bob Stepp]

Ya'll mull this over amongst your selves....I'll be back later....;-D

[WS]

They should not. No mulling necessary! If the people in question are identified with their schools or businesses, then I suppose a request for care might be warranted.

[Bob Stepp]

There are laws in place for slander or causing a public panic or riot, BUT otherwise i think what you say on your own time on your own computer is your own business....not your employer's.

[Bob Stepp]

Then we really don't have free speech do we???
We are basicly instructed by our employers as to what we can say...even on our own time???

[Bob Stepp]

And that's wrong on so many levels...IMO

[Bob Stepp]

I understand a company protecting it's products, but some companys are asking, well not asking, telling an employee not to mention the company or it's employees on the internet. i think that is going too far....messing with personal freedoms. What is next?...choosing what we eat for us...dictating what we do i our leisure time...choosing mates...cars, where we live???

[WS]

Maybe, Bob, but if I work at a private University and put on my website that I do so and also write a fantasy on my website about molesting young children, then no one will want to send their children there. I may not actually be a pedophile, but my company's ability to attract students will be be affected. There is no slander or libel involved. There is no law being broken.

What about a student who hangs a Nazi flag in his dorm window. People who visit the campus see it and are offended and decide they don't want to send their children to school there. (This is a real example). It was decided that the University had the right to make the student remove the flag.

There are and always have been limits to freedom of speech. (The yelling fire in a crowded room example.) Nonetheless, I think many of these things would need to be / should be decided on a case by case basis.

[P.A.]

The guarantee of free speach in the 1st amendment was meant to apply to government suppression of speach not any other entity.

[Bob Stepp]

So it's ok to let an employer suppress speech, but not the government?

[P.A.]

Pretty much the way it is. However I think some other law might apply to speech that did not affect the employer.

[darroll]

Be careful as what you say about anyone on the net.
You can get your rear end sued off.

[Jaylee53]

My job is my livelihood....gotta keep my doors open.
That being said....my employer will probably look for me on FB....I was ignorant enough to use my real name....they will check me and my friends out....should I be happy about this? NOPE....but I have to suck it up....
We really do have it better here in the U.S. than other folks in the world....just saying.