From: JD (jd2@flash.net)
Date: Sun Nov 09 1997 - 21:48:52 MST
At 11:15 PM 11/9/97 -0500, you wrote:
>JD wrote:
>>
>> At 08:08 AM 11/9/97 -0500, you wrote:
>> >Pat Fallon wrote:
>> >>
>> >> However, if I am hired by a client and sign an
>> >> agreement not to reveal his confidential information, I cannot later
>> >> publish it and claim my 1st Amendment right of freedom of speech. My
>> >> general right to freedom of speech was superseded by my specific
>> >> contractual agreement not to publish this information.
>> >>
>>
>> Is there a "general right to freedom of speech?" Does the First Amendment
>> say "The people shall enjoy at all times and in all circumstances a general
>> right to freedom of speech?" If not, what does the First Amendment say
>> about freedom of speech? To what specific body are the prohibitions in the
>> First Amendment directed? Given the new knowledge gained from your reading
>> of the clause about which you write, did the hypothetical contract you
>> signed actually supersede any provision of the First Amendment?
>>
>> JD
>
>There are no limits in the first amendment. However, a contract may ask
>implicitly or explicitly for you to waive its exercise under certain
>circumstances. In this case, your agreement to waive your rights to
>exercise speech freely are voluntarily contstrained, unless you find
>some other way to nullify the contract.
>
Not only are there plenty of limits to A1 protection, there are numerous
situations in which A1 doesn't even apply. And I'm not talking about the
old "shouting 'theater' in a crowded fire" scenario. What you gotta do is,
you gotta read the actual First Amendment before you write about it. Go
ahead. You'll see what I mean. Do an Alta Vista search on "U.S.
Constitution." It's in there. You will find out why no contract written
since memory of man runs not to the contrary contains the clause of which
you speak, yet confidentiality clauses are common and usually enforceable.
JD
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