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Citing ``the rapidly expanding presence of organized hate groups on the Internet,'' a leading Jewish human rights group [the Simon Wiesenthal Center] on Tuesday began sending letters to hundreds of Internet access providers and universities asking them to refuse to carry messages that ``promote racism, anti-Semitism, mayhem and violence.''
But Cooper said the ``unprecedented potential and scope of the Internet'' gives people ``incredible power to promote violence, threaten women, denigrate minorities, promote homophobia and conspire against democracy.''
The SWC has a Web site http://www.wiesenthal.com, but there's no sign of the letter on it right now. They do have a web-form survey on Hate on the Internet, which I filled out for kicks. The CyberWatch section of their site is the sort of place that says (and I quote) "Is there anything that can be done?". <sigh> Their "CyberWatch Perspective" http://www.wiesenthal.com/watch/wpers.htm attacks anonymity on the net in a couple of places. Here are some relevant excerpts: - ---------------- "An incident in Texas highlights yet another advantage the information superhighway gives bigots - anonymity and deniability. Witness the recent equivalent of a hi-tech hate drive-by in Texas: Someone broke into the electronic mail account of a professor and fired off a virulent anti-black and anti-Semitic attack to 20,000 computer users in four states. The attack was authored by the National Alliance, whose leader simply denied sending the message. Its source was a convenient "anonymous I.D."" [...] "Hateful speech is, in general, "protected speech," but is there any reason why, at a minimum, a recipient of any unsolicited and threatening message from the superhighway should not have the right to know instantly the source of the message? Right now, the Internet, in effect, provides stealth technology for bigots, child pornographers and the like. Accountability, not anonymity, should be the operative principle." - ----------------- No big surprise to see these folks come out against free speech in a new medium. Too bad they're utterly blind to the lessons of the history they've documented so well. Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMPP1jSnaAKQPVHDZAQEl4Qf+JUnC0XFqFvpHZ9YGlb5fW+EnsQ8gTJ4C 0for1k8zbCiR0iCL39E1a1I/SSD1LidjAPPuaaDHqORsf4ixlTIP59+Uxi5LK6GH P9mwMViehs/OflmJrpC087UfRGsrd/KTnYeLRX4g773zsPCcChEjpj7LxYmLfZYV 1jsZBNwY+JoWEriPL9Hx/hMiJ11xY2f5RkeBp9rP6nKHvYQab365cKOcVA3DYt82 jG15jEw9p7Ub96gown1aJasr9GEj4DYkUzL74I6/0ewxqHVC8KEmdg5PdpxAJUkI Lx2GLneBSWUqN1eGvXS2oW2PZ3A2kQ7P8Eoi7w3l7M94jsktELrfmA== =AsJw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----