Technology

Do they really? Carving into people's flesh causes controversy? The US sure is wild.

Even if some of my examples do cause controversy in the US sometimes (I do realize you lot tend to fantasize free speech as an absolute rather than a freedom that - although very important - is always weighed against all the other very important rights like security and body autonomy) they do stand as examples of limits to free speech that are generally accepted by the large majority. Enough that those controversies don't generally end up in blanket decriminalization of mutilation and vandalism. So I still refute that my stance is not "the default opinion". It may be rarely formulated this way, but I posit that the absolutism you defend is, in actuality, the rarer opinion of the two.

The example of restriction of free speech your initial comment develops upon is a fringe consequence of the law in question and doesn't even restrict the information from circulating, only the tools you can use to write it. My point is that this is not at all uncommon in law, even in american law, and that it does not, in fact, prevent information from circulating.

The fact that you fail to describe why circulation of information is important for a healthy society makes your answer really vague. The single example you give doesn't help : if scientific and tech-related information were free to circulate scientists wouldn't use sci-hub. And if it were the main idea, universities would be free in the US (the country that values free speech the most) rather than in European countries that have a much more relative viewpoint on it. The well known "everything is political" is the reason why you don't restrict free speech to explicitly political statements. How would you draw the line by law? It's easier and more efficient to make the right general, and then create exceptions on a case-by-case basis (confidential information, hate speech, calls for violence, threats of murder...)

Should confidential information be allowed to circulate to Putin from your ex-President then?