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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

FIRE

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast takes an uncensored look at the world of free expression through the law, philosophy, and stories that define your right to free speech. Hosted by FIRE's Nico Perrino. New episodes post every other Thursday.
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Top 10 So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 204: “Liar in a Crowded Theater” with Jeff Kosseff
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01/18/24 • 62 min

Jeff Kosseff is an associate professor of cybersecurity law in the United States Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department. He is the author of four books including his most recent, “Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation.” He has also written books about anonymous speech and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

2:30 Jeff’s focus on the First Amendment

4:27 What is Section 230?

9:30 “Liar in a Crowded Theater”

16:27 What does the First Amendment say about lies?

19:35 What speech isn’t protected?

21:27 The Eminem case

27:33 The Dominion lawsuit

38:44 “The United States of Anonymous”

46:39 The impact of age verification laws

49:43 “The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet”

58:40 What’s next for Jeff?

1:01:35 Outro

Show Notes

Podcast Transcript

Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011)

FIRE’s guide to Section 230

Nikki Haley on social media anonymity

Schenck v. United States (1917)

The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet” by Jeff Kosseff

NBC News: “Judge allows lawsuit against Snap from relatives of dead children to move forward

The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech” by Jeff Kosseff

United States v. Alvarez (2012)

Transcript

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J Hopkins is an American playwright, novelist, and political satirist. He moved to Germany in 2004. He publishes a self-titled blog on Substack and is the editor of Consent Factory Publishing.

CJ’s most recent book, “The Rise of the New Normal Reich,” draws a parallel between Nazi Germany and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2022, it was banned on Amazon in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. In the months that followed, CJ was charged by German authorities with violating a section of the German penal code that prohibits “disseminating information, the intention of which is to further the aims of a former National-Socialist organization [the Nazis].” He was recently acquitted, but the prosecutor chose to appeal the decision.

In the coming months, CJ will stand trial — again — for a crime he claims he didn’t commit and for which he has already been acquitted.

**We are launching on Substack this week! Nothing will change for our listeners. It’s just another way to support the podcast and FIRE. Premium subscribers will receive a FIRE membership and access to our new monthly “Members Only” Zoom chats, where we will discuss free speech news and happenings at FIRE. Members will also be able to ask Nico and other FIRE staffers questions.**

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

2:58 Who is CJ Hopkins?

9:35 CJ moves to Germany

15:02 CJ’s work since 2004

18:23 Berlin in 2020

27:18 “The Rise of the New Normal Reich”

34:01 CJ’s book banned in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands

37:05 German investigation

47:26 German sensitivities to Nazism

50:17 Why didn’t CJ just pay the fine?

54:03 CJ goes to trial

1:03:29 Double-jeopardy / prosecutorial appeal

1:08:49 Does CJ have regrets?

1:12:50 Conclusion

Show Notes

Atlantic profile by Jamie Kirchick

Berlin Diary” by William L. Shirer

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer

The Rise of the New Normal Reich” by CJ Hopkins

Consent Factory

The Verdict” by CJ Hopkins, a Substack article about the conclusion of his first trial

The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III, banned in Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands!” by CJ Hopkins, a Substack article about his book being banned on Amazon

Transcript

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 72 ‘Bodied’ with director Joseph Kahn

Ep. 72 ‘Bodied’ with director Joseph Kahn

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

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11/13/18 • 59 min

“Words are weapons in the world’s most lyrical sport.”

That’s how competitive battle rap is described by the makers of “Bodied,” a new satirical film produced by Eminem about a college student who decides to write a thesis paper on battle rap and through a twist of fate finds himself becoming a prodigy in the sport.

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we speak with“Bodied” director Joseph Kahn. Kahn is a filmmaker and Grammy-award winning music video director, who has directed videos for Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Blink 182, Britney Spears, Maroon 5, and many other best-selling artists.

Kahn describes himself as a free speech absolutist. During the course of this conversation, we unpack what that means and take a look at the free speech interests in his new, controversial film.

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 129 ‘The Fight for Free Speech’ with Ian Rosenberg
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02/11/21 • 50 min

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we are joined by media lawyer Ian Rosenberg to discuss his new book, “The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms.”

Rosenberg is assistant chief counsel at ABC, Inc., where he has provided pre-broadcast counsel for ABC News clients on libel, newsgathering, intellectual property, and FCC regulatory issues since 2003.

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 152 Banning critical race theory

Ep. 152 Banning critical race theory

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

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01/20/22 • 79 min

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we are joined by FIRE’s Joe Cohn and the American Enterprise Institute’s Max Eden to debate and discuss legislative efforts to ban critical race theory, or so-called “divisive concepts,” from being taught in schools.

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: [email protected]

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Konstantin Eggert, a native Muscovite, has reported on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. He started his reporting career in Moscow in 1990. From 1998-2009, he was senior correspondent, then editor-in-chief, of the BBC Russian Service Moscow bureau. Later he worked for ExxonMobil Russia and Russian media outlets, Kommersant and TV Rain.

Now, living in Lithuania, Eggert is a vocal critic of the Putin regime and has more than a few thoughts on censorship in Russia: specifically, how it compares to Soviet censorship, the decline of independent media in the country, Russian history, and the war in Ukraine.

Eggert currently works for a German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 159 Disney and Elon Musk

Ep. 159 Disney and Elon Musk

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

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04/26/22 • 39 min

Does Disney have free speech rights? And did Florida violate the First Amendment when it punished the company for its political activism? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. What should free speech advocates make of that?

Recurring guest and famed First Amendment scholar Robert Corn-Revere is here to break it all down for us. He’s a partner at the law firm Davis Wright-Tremaine, a member of FIRE’s Advisory Council, and the author of “The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor’s Dilemma.”

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 168 Assassin’s veto comes for Rushdie

Ep. 168 Assassin’s veto comes for Rushdie

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

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08/17/22 • 62 min

Last week, a would-be assassin attacked Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses,” in an apparent attempt to carry out the infamous fatwa placed on Rushdie’s life. Fortunately, Rushdie survived the attack. Vice News Tonight correspondent and “The Fifth Column” podcast co-host Michael Moynihan joins the show to discuss what happened, what it means for free speech, and the history of “The Satanic Verses” controversy.

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SotoSpeakTheFreeSpeechPodcast Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freespeechtalk/ Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 170 Free speech and the American Founding

Ep. 170 Free speech and the American Founding

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

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09/15/22 • 36 min

This Saturday, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day. It was on this day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed America’s Constitution. And while the First Amendment was not ratified until 1791, discussions over the role of free speech and expression in a democratic society were alive long before then.

Pepperdine University professor and author Gordon Lloyd joins the show this week to explore how the American conception of free speech came to be, from the colonial era to the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Drawing from over 40 years of research, Lloyd discusses examples of free speech and expression during the founding, ranging from 1641, when the Massachusetts Body of Liberties — the earliest known protection of free speech in the colonies — was published; to 1776, when free speech aided the decision to declare independence from Great Britain; to the late 1780s, when federalist and anti-federalist publications sparked, in Lloyd’s words, “the greatest pamphlet war the world has ever seen.”

Show notes:

www.sotospeakpodcast.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SotoSpeakTheFreeSpeechPodcast Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freespeechtalk/ Email us: [email protected]

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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - Ep. 27 The ‘heckler’s veto’ strikes Heather Mac Donald
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04/17/17 • 35 min

On April 6, Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather Mac Donald was standing in Claremont McKenna College’s Athenaeum preparing to give a lecture to an empty room.

An empty room was not what Mac Donald expected when she traveled to California from her New York City home to deliver a lecture on her new book, “The War On Cops.” But outside the auditorium, close to 300 people had surrounded the Athenaeum, preventing prospective audience members from entering. They were protesting Mac Donald’s defense of law enforcement policing tactics and her criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ultimately, the college livestreamed Mac Donald’s talk to those who could not attend in person. But the talk was cut short during the question and answer period after police and administrators determined that it was unsafe for her to remain in the building. The crowd was allegedly out of control, and Mac Donald could hear banging on the windows. Her exit through the kitchen of the Athenaeum into an unmarked Claremont Police Department van was coordinated by walkie-talkie.

Heather Mac Donald is our guest on today’s “extra” edition of “So to Speak.” Mac Donald is the latest speaker on campus to fall victim to the “heckler’s veto.” During our conversation, I ask Mac Donald what she was thinking as she heard the crowd outside banging on the Athenaeum’s windows. I also asked her what it says about the environment for free inquiry on campus that a scholar must escape under police protection through the kitchen of a campus building for presenting nothing more than an argument?

www.sotospeakpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast

Email us: [email protected]

Call in a question: 215-315-0100

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FAQ

How many episodes does So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast have?

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast currently has 229 episodes available.

What topics does So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast cover?

The podcast is about Podcasts, Politics, News Commentary and News.

What is the most popular episode on So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast?

The episode title 'Ep. 101 McCarthyism and The Red Scare' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast?

The average episode length on So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast is 61 minutes.

How often are episodes of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast released?

Episodes of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast?

The first episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast was released on Apr 19, 2016.

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