Coin Center Argues Software Code Protected Under First Amendment

Crypto lobby Coin Center has published a report arguing that software code is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. According to the report, writing and publishing crypto software code is comparable to writing a book or publishing a recipe, both of which are considered forms of free speech.

The report, written by executive director Peter Van Valkenburgh and director of research Lizandro Pieper, aims to provide a framework for courts and regulators to distinguish between protected software publication and regulatable conduct. The authors argue that developers should not be held liable for how their code is used, as long as they do not interact directly with users or control user assets.

Citing past court cases, including the 1985 case of Lowe v. SEC, Van Valkenburgh and Pieper assert that software developers are protected by free speech principles, even if some lower courts have disagreed. The report argues that declaring software developers to be middlemen for 'administrative convenience' is not a viable solution, as it would require novel carveouts in existing regulations.