Freedom of Free Speech?

The first amendment gives us all freedom of free speech, among other things. This entitles us to speak and communicate our thoughts and ideas without censorship or fear of being harmed. However, the term "freedom" can be quite ambiguous or even vague, because this freedom also comes with certain limitations, such as not yelling out "fire!" in a crowded public place. If this is the case, can we really say that we have this kind of freedom? Can we say that we are "more free" than people in other countries, such as China?

On another note about censorship in cyberspace, here is an article from The New York Times entitled "Ad Urged for Groups Fighting Internet Censors," published yesterday on January 20. Regimes like China and Iran prohibit their people from having access to important Web sites like Google and Facebook. They are also subject to having their Web activities monitored by the government. As a result, U.S. senators are urging Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to support organizations that help people circumvent Internet restrictions.

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
--John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859