Discussion
This is a discussion post, no need to be a formal APA paper.
Read the news summary below. A link to a more detailed overview follows if you feel you need additional information.
A Rutgers University freshman, named Tyler Clementi, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, secretly broadcast (via a spycam) Clementi kissing a date he had brought back to the dorm. Ravi was convicted of bias intimidation and violation of privacy in New Jersey; Ravi received a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation.
Broadcasting video images can be considered “speech” as we understand it today. Commentators characterized the broadcast of live video as hate speech as it conveyed homophobic ridicule of Clementi.
Link to article:
As your main post, address the following scenario-based questions:
Should behavior, such as Ravi’s, be punished, whether by the University or the state government?
How would define free speech? Is Ravi’s behavior ethically defensible as an exercise of free speech?
Do people have expectation of privacy in a public setting? Is a university dorm room a public or private setting? Explain your view.