**************** http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/editorial/0,1012,1561,00.html The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/) November 6, 1997 Return of the Living Zundel by Chris Stamper (cstamper@pathfinder.com) Does Ernst Zundel have the right to deny the Holocaust and brag about it on the Net? In the U.S. the answer is unequivocally yes. But in Canada, where Zundel resides, the Human Rights Commission has been holding hearings on whether the "Zundelsite" violates the country's hate speech laws. If Zundel loses the case, he'll be asked to pay damages and take any offending articles off the web site. "A lot of people think this case is about censoring the Net," said Bernie Farber, national director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress. "It isn't. It's about a Canadian violating Canadian law. In Canada and in every other Western democracy but the U.S., there are limits to free speech and one of those points is vilification. I should feel I have as much right to get on the Net and not feel demeaned because I'm a part of a particular group." A simple enough concept, except that the Canadian tribunal has no explicit jurisdiction over the Internet. However, it can regulate the phone system, and if the commission can equate Zundel's modems with answering machines and voice mail, it could set a precedent for regulating speech on the Net. Zundel claims that the whole case is simply an attempt by the commission to expand its powers into the realm of cyberspace. But then Zundel also claims that Hitler maintained a secret UFO base in Antarctica. The only certain truth about Zundel's case is that he's basking in free publicity as a result of the flap. "I was a nobody before they started hounding me," he told The Netly News. "Now everyone spells my name right. Every Canadian knows I think the Holocaust is a racket." [...]