新興溝通科技與言論自由——可能之定位暨思維

Emerging Communicative Technology vs. Freedom of Speech: Possible Legal Status and Thinking

言論自由法理核心問題之一即美國憲法增修條文第1條保護之範圍，我們周遭的活動所包含的已不僅是位元的傳送，更多是演算法之結果，越來越多新興溝通科技形成新的及獨特的「說者」，帶來言論自由理論艱難的議題：何者為受保護之言論？何者不是？憲法增修條文第1條是否適用於「搜尋引擎」之結果與搜尋引擎使用之演算法是不同的問題，而如果我們篤信言論自由，則對話之對象究竟是人類或人工智慧，有何關係？言論自由之保護若未涵蓋前開新興溝通科技言論，國家將得以任意壓抑該等言論，無異同時剝奪資訊接收者接收資訊之權利，然而，徵諸俄羅斯操控美國大選事件等，該等言論亦實質上透過潛在之力量、速度及範圍對於資訊接收者造成資訊過剩、操控言論等風險，故在新興溝通科技可能對於言論自由法理造成衝撞下，法律應有其扮演之角色，即便人工智慧等將使亙古以來之法學理論進入未知之領域。

One of the core issues in the freedom of speech jurisprudence concerns the scope of protection delineated in Article 1 of the Amendments to the US Constitution. Many of our daily activities involve not only the bits transmission, but also the results of algorithms created by humans and implemented by machines. More and more emerging communicative technologies form new and unique ’’speakers’’, which accordingly bring forth difficult issues in the theory of freedom of speech, questions like ’’what is protected speech?’’ and ’’which one is not?’’ are of great importance. The issue of whether Article 1 of the US Constitutional Amendments applies to the results of ’’search engines’’ is different from the how it is applied to algorithm used in search engines. Further, while information recipients believe in the freedom of speech, the object of dialogue ‒ whether it is humans or the artificial intelligence is also an important matter. When the protection of freedom of speech does not cover the newly developed communicative technology speech, the state will be able to suppress such speech arbitrarily in ways that deprive the right of individuals to receive information. Meanwhile, remarks such as concluding that Russia manipulated the US election have actually created risks for information recipients including excessive information and manipulation of speech through potential power, speed, and scope. Therefore, as the emerging communicative technology may cause conflicts with the freedom of speech jurisprudence, it can be argued that the law shall play a role even with the possibility that artificial intelligence and other fields will bring the ancient legal theory into unknown territory.