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Do Androids Dream of Electric Free Speech?

Visions of the Future of Copyright, Privacy, and the First Amendment in Science Fiction

, a paper from Communicaton Law and Policy by Texas Christian University's Daxton "Chip" Stewart, we're treated to a wide-ranging overview of the free speech, copyright, privacy and surveillance legal issues raised in science fiction from Frankenstein to my own books. Stewart's paper insightfully weaves together everyone from Ernest Cline to Isaac Asimov and closely analyzes the way that science fictional thought-experiments can inform legal discussions, in a fashion reminiscent of the excellent Law of Superheros.

Science fiction authors have long projected the future of technology, including communication devices and the way in which future societies may use them. In this essay, these visions of future technology, and their implications on the future of media law and policy, are explored in three areas in particular – copyright, privacy, and the First Amendment. Themes examined include moving toward massively open copyright systems, problems of perpetual surveillance by the state, addressing rights of obscurity in public places threatened by wearable and implantable computing devices, and considering free speech rights of autonomous machines created by humans. In conclusion, the author offers a rebuttal to recent critics of legal scholarship by suggesting the value in exploratory, forward-looking research that examines the problems judges and policymakers may be addressing in the near and distant future.



Do Androids Dream of Electric Free Speech?

Visions of the Future of Copyright, Privacy, and the First Amendment in Science Fiction

[Daxton "Chip" Stewart/Communicaton Law and Policy]