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It seems pretty strange to me that individuals with the right to free speech and the right to assemble and freely associate would lose those rights if they chos

It seems pretty strange to me that individuals with the right to free speech and the right to assemble and freely associate would lose those rights if they chose the form of a "corporation" as the manner of assembly and association. So I don't think the problem is that the law treats groups of people as legal entities with substantially similar rights to the individuals. I would expect that crimes associated with speech (slander, defamation, fraudulent representations, incitement to violence, threats, etc) would be applicable to individuals and to corporations equally. I would agree that the control that a handful (relative to all corporations) of online companies wield is something quite new (historically speaking) and our laws, regulations, and even legal principles are playing catchup. We may need some original thinking to help us evolve our legal systems to meet the challenge.

bliztw2019a 7y ago
Bigger philosophical question for the US Stage: When a corporation kills someone through their negligence, why does the punishment differ so much from what happens when a physical person does the same? Are corporations trying to pick and choose when they are treated like a person? Does that place them above people?
- gwright 7y ago
  It is an interesting question. 1) I don't think "corporations" are picking and choosing, there is extensive legal history on this point. 2) Re: "kills someone through their negligence". I think you've abstracted too much for there to be a single answer. I gather you are talking about situations where no identifiable person lead to the death and so there is some sort of "collective" or "systemic" failure that "caused" the death. I think the particular facts matter in those cases and the result is a variety of punishments from fines, to external supervision and inspection, and even in some cases action against individuals that were connected to the faulty decision making. One size doesn't fit all in this case.
  - pmiller2 7y ago
    Regarding point 1, when was the last time an American corporation was put in jail?

bliztw2019a 7y ago

Bigger philosophical question for the US Stage: When a corporation kills someone through their negligence, why does the punishment differ so much from what happens when a physical person does the same? Are corporations trying to pick and choose when they are treated like a person? Does that place them above people?

gwright 7y ago
It is an interesting question. 1) I don't think "corporations" are picking and choosing, there is extensive legal history on this point. 2) Re: "kills someone through their negligence". I think you've abstracted too much for there to be a single answer. I gather you are talking about situations where no identifiable person lead to the death and so there is some sort of "collective" or "systemic" failure that "caused" the death. I think the particular facts matter in those cases and the result is a variety of punishments from fines, to external supervision and inspection, and even in some cases action against individuals that were connected to the faulty decision making. One size doesn't fit all in this case.
- pmiller2 7y ago
  Regarding point 1, when was the last time an American corporation was put in jail?