> Free speech cannot be used to protect people who commit crimes against the economy. That's a tautology, and not very defining or useful. Of course the things

> Free speech cannot be used to protect people who commit crimes against the economy. That's a tautology, and not very defining or useful. Of course the things that are crimes are not covered by free speech. But the question was, where do you draw that line? Sure, willfully misleading people can be fraud in some situations (note that lying is protected speech in some situations[0]). But there's a whole continuum of situations relating to speech and the economy. Is it free speech if you publish (true) information about a company that results in the stock price changing? Is it free speech if you publish wrong information that you believe to be true and it results in the stock price changing? What if you publish wild speculation without solid evidence (as people frequently do for predictions of Apple products) and that causes the stock to change? [0] http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/lying.html http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/lying.h...