Don't forbid to say good things about a product, forbid paying someone to do it. I don't mind Apple fanboys saying why they think Steve Jobs was a genius. I mind the big fucking 5m ads they put on historical monuments.
Paying someone is speech. See Citizen United v. FEC.[0]
And before you claim it’s a bad ruling, think about all the times you’ve used your money. Are you not supporting the EFF in some form of speech by donating to them? Are you not supporting a product in some form by buying it? I don’t like it as it allows money in politics, but it’s a ruling that makes sense.
It is a bad ruling that is often used in EU to show how fucked up the US system is.
No, "speech" is something, that you can argue extend to written declarations and publications, but "paying someone to support their actions" is something different. It is something that can be used to promote a political expression and it makes some sense to protect some form of it but certainly not on the same grounds as protecting free speech.
Paying someone to put forward an opinion has other names: corruption, lobbying and, yes, advertisement. None of them should be practice protected under freedom of expression laws.
See, why is freedom of expression good? Because of the core philosophical belief that truth and good opinion emerge from the confrontation of different point of views. Alvin tells me why we should not bomb Eastasia, Barbara tells me why we should. Charles comes with additional facts. Daniele points out some lies and incoherence in some of the past arguments. They all make their points, then I think for myself to make my opinion.
This is how opinions of voters but also lawmakers, leaders, journalists, magistrates, citizens are supposed to be formed.
In no way would this process be helped by paying the person that is forming their opinion. Quite the contrary.
So yes, this ruling was bad. Incredibly bad. It is bad for philosophical, moral, practical reasons.
The fact that I should be allowed to donate to EFF does not rely on the 2nd amendment. And in fact I do want the law to forbid me to give 10 millions to the EFF to drop a lawsuit that would go against my interests.
