The Growing Influence of Private Expressions and Public Responsibility in Advanced Information Society: A Socio-Legal Approach to the Minerva Case

Abstract

By examining the Minerva case from 2008-10 this paper deals with the issues surrounding freedom of expression that arise from the increased influence of private expressions on public bulletin board systems in the context of a technically and socially developed Internet. In section 2 we review the legal context of the Internet bulletin board system, especially public Internet bulletin board systems, and introduce the Minerva case in the social context of the year 2008-9 in section 3. In section 4 we discuss the legal process of the Minerva case at courts, and present a socio-legal consideration of the Constitutional Courts decision in section 5. We conclude by arguing for the necessity of rebalancing freedom of expression and public interest, and properly specifying the meaning of public interest in the social public in a democratic Internet society.