Posted by Jared Law on October 8, 2011

On Thursday, Glenn Beck ranted about New York State’s efforts to infringe upon individuals’ First Amendment Rights:

Here’s glennbeck.com on the story:

NY State wants to regulate the first amendment?!

Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 at 2:53 PM EDT

On radio this morning, Glenn opened the show with some disturbing news that some New York State Senators were going to try and regulate free speech on the internet.

The Blog TechDirt reported:

“…it appears that some state Senators in NY are trying a new line of attack: going directly after the First Amendment and suggesting that current interpretations are way too broad, and it’s not really meant to protect any sort of free speech right. In fact, it sounds as though they’re trying to redefine the right to free speech into a privilege that can be taken away. Seriously:

Proponents of a more refined First Amendment argue that this freedom should be treated not as a right but as a privilege — a special entitlement granted by the state on a conditional basis that can be revoked if it is ever abused or maltreated.“

The report on cyberbullying, which can be read in it’s entirety here.

TechDirt adds:

As for where they’re going with this? Well, you guessed it: they’re planning to introduce new laws to deal with cyberbullying (even though NY already has such a law). The plan is to extend two existing areas of law: “stalking in the third degree” will now include cyberbullying, and “manslaughter in the second degree” will be expanded to “include the emerging problem of bullycide.” <br/> <br /> They’re trying to go right directly after the First Amendment and suggest current interpretations of the First Amendment are too broad,” Glenn said.