So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 88 Defending libraries with James LaRue Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

Community libraries have always been a target for would-be censors — and the past few months are no exception.

On today's episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we explore past and present challenges to library content, and the unique role libraries play historically as bastions for free inquiry.

We are joined by James LaRue, an award-winning librarian and the former director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Show notes:

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Ep. 87 Intellectual property 101 Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

The Constitution grants Congress the power "[t]o promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

However, figuring out how Congress actually does this can be confusing.

Copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, fair use?

What do they all mean?

Today's episode of So to Speak is all about simplifying intellectual property law for you — and explaining why free speech advocates should care about it. We are joined by FIRE Program Officer Adam Goldstein, who helps us break it all down.

A video of this interview can be found on FIRE's YouTube channel.

Podcast transcript.

Adam's recommended additional reading:

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Ep. 86 Words, Violence, and Censorship at Williams College May 30, 2019

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On today's episode of So to Speak, we are joined by Williams College Professor of Biology Luana Maroja.

Professor Maroja's experience growing up under a dictatorship in Brazil led her to become an outspoken advocate for free speech at Williams College and a skeptic of the idea that words are violence.

Show notes:

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Ep. 85 Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation May 16, 2019

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On today's episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we are joined by Wen Fa, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation who regularly litigates free speech cases. One of his most high-profile cases was the 2018 Supreme Court case Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, dealing with a polling-place dress code in Minnesota.

Show notes:

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Ep. 84 The fight to publish Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' May 02, 2019

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"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness."

So begins Allen Ginsberg's famous poem "Howl." You might be familiar with Allen Ginsberg. You might be familiar with the poem. But chances are you don't know about the efforts in San Francisco in 1957 to censor the poem.

On today's episode of So to Speak, we discuss those efforts with distinguished First Amendment scholar and recurring So to Speak guest Ronald K.L. Collins. He is the co-author, with David M. Skover, of the new book, "The People v. Ferlinghetti: The Fight to Publish Allen Ginsberg's HOWL," which recounts the story behind the publication of "Howl" and the courageous fight against its censorship.

Show notes:

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Ep. 83 Mustafa Akyol on jailing journalists in Turkey, 're-educating' Uyghurs in China, and cultural conformity in America Apr 18, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of So to Speak, we sit down with Cato Institute Senior Fellow Mustafa Akyol to discuss threats to freedom of thought and expression around the world, with a particular focus on situations in Turkey and China.

Akyol has been described by CNN's Fareed Zakaria as "Turkey's finest political analyst." Prior to joining Cato, he was a senior fellow at The Freedom Project at Wellesley College, where he learned a thing or two about illiberalism in America. He is also a regular contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.

Show notes:

Podcast transcript
Bios and bibliographies: http://www.mustafaakyol.org/, https://www.cato.org/people/mustafa-akyol, https://www.nytimes.com/column/mustafa-akyol
FIRE Investigates: An (il)liberal arts education at Wellesley College
"China's Gulag for Muslims"
"One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China is Using A.I. to Profile a Minority"
"The New Gulag Archipelago: How China "Reeducates" the Uyghurs and Why the World Should Be Alarmed" (Video of Cato Institute panel)

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Ep. 82 'Can free speech be progressive?' Apr 04, 2019

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On today's episode of So to Speak, we ask the question, "can free speech be progressive?"

Our guest is Louis Michael Seidman. He is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown Law and the author of the much-discussed 2018 Columbia Law Review article "Can Free Speech Be Progressive?"

Click here for a transcript of the podcast.

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Ep. 81 Techdirt's Mike Masnick Mar 21, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we speak with Techdirt.com founder and editor Mike Masnick.

Since founding Techdirt in 1997, Masnick has written nearly 50,000 blog posts for the publication and covered many of tech's hottest free speech controversies. He even coined the phrase "Streisand Effect."

In this conversation, we discuss some of the issues Masnick has recently written about for Techdirt, including defamation lawsuits and content moderation. We also ask Mike about the founding of Techdirt, the culture for free speech in Silicon Valley, the fear surrounding new technologies, and, of course, the story behind the Streisand Effect.

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Ep. 80 Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2019 Mar 07, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, FIRE staffers discuss our 2019 list of the 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech.

Participants in this show are:

Nico Perrino, host of So to Speak, director of communications
Will Creeley, senior vice president of legal and public advocacy
Adam Steinbaugh, director of FIRE's Individual Rights Defense Program
Sarah McLaughlin, senior program officer for legal and public advocacy

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Ep. 79 Former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith Feb 21, 2019

Show notes

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley A. Smith is perhaps best known for opposing many campaign finance regulations on First Amendment grounds. On today's episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we talk with the former chairman about how political campaign activity is regulated in America and how this regulation implicates the First Amendment. We also explore some of today's hot-button campaign finance controversies.

Smith is a professor of law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. From 2000 until 2005, he served as a FEC commissioner. He was FEC chairman in 2004 and vice chairman in 2003. In 2005, Smith founded the Center for Competitive Politics, now known as the Institute for Free Speech.

Show notes:

Podcast transcript
Cases: Buckley v. Valeo (1976), Randall v. Sorrell (2006) Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), Speechnow.org v. FEC (2010), McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (2014)
Timeline: The history of campaign finance regulation
Faulty Assumptions and the Undemocratic Consequences of Campaign Finance Reform by Bradley A. Smith (1996)
Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform by Bradley A. Smith (2009)
Stormy weather for campaign-finance laws
National Enquirer didn't commit a crime by killing Trump affair stories

www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: sotospeak@thefire.org

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