This Just In: Liar in a Crowded Theater

Thanks to the First Amendment, Americans enjoy the constitutional right to lie.  Jeff Kosseff, a professor of cybersecurity law at the United States Naval Academy, argues that even though lies can inflict huge damage, the United States should continue to protect them.

Kosseff’s book, Liar in a Crowded Theater explores both the history of protected falsehoods and where to go from here – including recent events such as the 2016 and 2020 elections, and the COVID pandemic.  The book looks at dozens of court cases dealing with free speech and why courts are reluctant to be the judges of truth but also why they’re unsuited to that task.  Rather than regulating speech Kosseff proposes solutions that focus on minimizing the harms of misinformation.