I ran across this lawsuit story a few days ago - apparently, one of the nicer outfits that brings you comment spam, link spam (etc) has decided to sue over comments left on a blog - claiming that said comments reveal important IP. Yeah, and I'm the queen of Rumania. The faster the clowns at Traffic Power sink into well deserved bankruptcy, the better.

That's not really what I wanted to post about though :) That issue resulted in a post from Scoble, which generated this utterly clueless response from Blog Herald:

More details on Aarons blog here. Intuitive Systems also has more details. Robert Scoble, in a fit of insanity is suggesting that the solution is to moderate or turn off your comments. How bout free speech Scoble?

This really isn't a hard issue. Free speech does not imply an obligation on my part to provide a soapbox. Comments are a privilege, not a right. You think otherwise? I invite you to write content for (insert your favorite magazine/newspaper here). Is it a free speech violation when they reject your content? How about when a publisher of any sort rejects your manuscript?

People confuse free speech with the (non-existent) right to a soapbox all the time. Free speech means that you are free to say what you want, when you want. However:

• With the freedom to say what you want comes the responsibility to live with the results. Say nasty things about your employer in public, for instance, and don't be surprised when you get the axe.
• No one owes you a soapbox.

People forget those two things all the time.