To truly test free speech in a society, you just have to make sure you get a crowd of people to laugh at those that are higher up than you in the food chain.
Arizona State Representative Michelle Ugenti made a few snafus in her political career, and so she gets made fun of on the internet with a few parody social media accounts. It's really a standard procedure. Then she goes around some time later and proposes a bill that would make it a felony to make social media accounts that parody people for the very things they say or do.
Technology does have a huge impact on the more cultural part of a society. Streaming video lets us revisit embarrassing moments, it lets us hound politicians, and it lets this all go viral at that. The technology really influenced our culture that way, as we grow more and more memetic due to the internet. So yes, Ugenti brings up a good point:
If you do something wrong, the internet really lets people archive that and hound the hell out of you for it.
To curtail free speech to avoid some skinned knees, though, is just silly. It gives far too much power to the object of attention and takes all power away from commentary, from new ideas that would sprout, and allows the object to squelch and silence in a public forum.
Politicians are going to have to grow up and realize that they have to step their game up, rather than try and change the game so that they're untouchable.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130205/08220021887/arizona-politician-parodied-fake-twitter-accounts-pushes-bill-to-make-online-impersonation-felony.shtml
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