Russell L. Weaver (University of Louisville - Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) has posted Brandenburg and Incitement in a Digital Era (Mississippi Law Journal, Vol. 80, No. 1, 2011) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
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The Internet has revolutionized communication by making it possible for ordinary people to directly communicate with each other. Prior to its invention, many people were forced to use much more primitive communications methods (e.g., giving speeches or distributing printed circulars). While more sophisticated communications technologies (e.g., newspapers, radio and television stations) were available, most of those technologies were subject to "gatekeepers" (e.g., editors, reporters, producers) who controlled access to the technology, and who could limit the ability of ordinary individuals to mass communicate.' In order to access these technologies, individuals must first convince the gatekeepers that their ideas are worthy of dissemination. The Internet, coupled with the development of personal computers, has largely freed people from the constraints of gatekeepers, and allowed them to directly communicate with each other. The political and social consequences of this newfound freedom have transformed communication. Using devices like e-mail, listservs, websites and blogs, not to mention Twitter and Facebook, private individuals now have the capacity to directly communicate with each other on a broad scale. Individually, as well as through organizations like MoveOn.org and the Tea party, people are using the Internet to communicate much more broadly, and are beginning to reshape society and the political process.
