Levmore, S: Offensive Internet

Saul Levmore is the William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago.

[This book] is for those who care how the internet has complicated privacy, speech and reputation, and for those who may have to rescue it from itself. -- Liz Else New Scientist 20110115 Much writing about the Internet focuses on its remarkable capacity to democratize access to information, to provide a platform for previously marginalized voices, and to otherwise lower barriers and promote freedom. Levmore and Nussbaum explore the dark side of all this unregulated freedom and expose the truly vile and harmful speech that can flourish online. The roster of contributors, including many major thinkers on Internet policy and culture, is impressive. The book takes up the serious questions we must face as the net becomes not some specialized tool for technology enthusiasts but ubiquitous. What policies can we put in place to curb bullying and harassment while protecting free speech? What provisions can be made to protect individuals' privacy or to prevent false and malicious rumors from forever tarnishing reputations? This book is an essential read for anyone interested in exploring these questions. It is particularly powerful in its treatment of privacy, reputation, and speech (both the protection of speech and the regulation of it) as inextricably linked concepts...Indispensable! Scholars of Internet law and general readers alike will find this book informative, illuminating, and disturbing. -- Rachel Bridgewater Library Journal (starred review) 20110101 If the evils of the internet are to be addressed without jeopardizing its benefits, an approach of just this sort is what's needed. -- Michael Kerrigan The Scotsman 20110129 [The Offensive Internet] poses a provocative thesis: though the freedoms bestowed by the Internet are universally recognized and generally lauded, a lack of regulation has allowed for radicalism, and nothing short of a Kafkaesque solution would be able to establish control now... This collection exposes the "double-edged sword" of the World Wide