McPaper USA Editorial, March 21st, 10A: Racism on the Net Even in the wildest reaches of the Internet, where anything goes and most things have gone at least twice, the flow of free information is sometimes at risk. Take this ugly battle: on one side, a band of racists wants a formal place on the Net to discuss "white power" music. On the other, a cadre of Internet users believes white power deserves no such setting. At risk is the wondrous anarchy of the Internets newsgroups. These exist by the thousands in an Internet subject called Usenet, where they are divided in two. In the "alternative" category, newsgroups careen about essentially without limits. In the other, qualified newsgroups are organized into eight subject "hierarchies": politics, science, etc. Membership in these is preferred because, for the most part, these hierarchies are carried by the Internet's networks without question. In this case, a fan proposed that the "recereation" hierarchy, which includes music sections, add a white-power newsgroup. This would put the music -- and its central tenets -- smack in the middle of the Net. Then the fight commenced. Although the Usenet contains no real structure, it is self-regulating. Newsgroups proposed for a hierarchy are subject to a discussion period and then balloting by interested Netizens. In this case, opponents argued that white-power advocates should hold their discussions in one of the "alternative" newsgroups; that the hierarchies constituted a special garden in the Net's "village green"; and that white-power music deserved no bench there. To be sure, racism deserves neither respect nor credibility. But in this case, exclusion may have unintended results. If offensive ideas by themselves are a basis for exclusion, then who else should be locked out? Some would make the same argument against the hip-hop and music-poetry newsgroups, where harsh and violent rap lyrics may be discussed. Without their own newsgroup, the white-power devotees will only contaminate other newsgroups with their static. Give them a lair to call their own, and at least you know where not to tread. There are advantages to Usenet's ad hoc self-governance. It helps protect the system from outsiders seeking to control its carbonated anarchy. But if the system then turns against speech, the result is the same: Free exchange of ideas is constricted. Even in the ether -- especially in the ether -- that's something to beware. We Gungir Din