For Immediate Release - January 11, 1996 Contact: Sameer Parekh 510-601-9777x3 COMMUNITY CONNEXION REFUSES TO CENSOR INTERNET SERVICES Berkeley, CA - In an open letter sent today to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Community ConneXion, the Internet Privacy Provider, explicitly stated its refusal to agree to their request to restrict access to services based on the content of the web pages their customers may implement using Community ConneXion services. On Wednesday, January 10th, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a request to Internet providers and universities to refuse to carry messages that "promote racism, anti-Semitism, mayhem and violence." Their target in the request was not Usenet, the discussion forums on the Internet which were recently targeted for censorship by CompuServe, but the World-Wide-Web, the area of the Internet which allows anyone to serve their words and ideas to the nearly thirty million people on the Internet. Efforts are growing to regulate content on the Internet and restrict freedom of expression. Community ConneXion is opposed to all forms of censorship. In the letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Sameer Parekh, President of Community ConneXion, described their position in reply to the Center's request that Internet providers pledge to restrict service, "Community ConneXion considers it our civic duty to provide Internet access, services, and privacy to any individual or group, no matter what their political or social agenda." The Simon Wiesenthal Center is asking Internet providers to restrict access to individuals and groups who would use their services to promote hateful ideas. "The answer to hateful speech is more speech," said Parekh, "Rather than attempting to ban hateful speech, which does nothing to prevent the hate and the effects of hate in the long run, human rights groups should devote their time and energies towards positive activities, such as speaking out debunking the hate groups and holocaust revisionists. Only by speaking out against the hate-mongers can any progress be made. Trying to stop them from speaking will only serve to encourage them." The very same services that Community ConneXion refuses to censor may be used by the persecuted groups who are harassed by the anti-Semites and neo-Nazis to aid them to protect themselves from persecution. "Using our services someone who may be afraid of the neo-Nazis, perhaps because they live in a very intolerant town, may set up web pages speaking out against the anti-Semites, but not reveal their real name or address. In this way people can provide information and speak out against the hate without fearing any repercussions. The very same services which can help drive out hate are the very same ones which the Simon Wiesenthal Center is asking Internet providers to restrict." Community ConneXion, founded in June of 1994, is the leading provider of privacy on the Internet. They provide anonymous and pseudonymous Internet access and web pages in addition to powerful web service, virtual hosts, and web design consultation. Information is available from their web pages at http://www.c2.org/. Attachment: Open letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Community ConneXion 3038A Mabel St. Berkeley, CA 94702 510-601-9777 http://www.c2.org/ January 11, 1996 The Simon Wiesenthal Center 9760 West Pico Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90035 To Whom it May Concern: This letter is in response to your call for Internet providers to refuse to carry messages which "promote racism, anti-Semitism, mayhem and violence." Community ConneXion, The Internet Privacy Provider, explicitly refuses to take such action as requested by your organization. I will, in this letter, explain the rationale behind our decision. While the reasons to not censor Internet traffic are great, we will only describe a few of them in order to explain our decision. First, the best way to fight speech is with more speech. Second, it violates the fundamentals upon this country was founded, in particular the ideal of freedom of expression. Finally, we believe that trying to restrict harmful speech, which, for example, "conspires against democracy," does more damage to the cause of democracy than allowing the hateful individuals and organizations to speak in the first place. In order to fight the hateful speech to which your organization objects, it is more productive to speak out against the hate and the lies of the anti-Semites and neo-Nazis than to try to prevent them from speaking. By preventing them from speaking, you are giving them more allies, and more legitimacy than they would have if you merely spoke out against them and debunked their words. If you actually take proactive action towards debunking their lies, people will understand that they are actually lying. By preventing them from speaking, you are promoting the idea that they actually might have something valuable to say. Hateful action, of course, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent permissible by law. Second, this country was founded on the ideal of freedom of expression. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is the first one on the list of the Bill of Rights. Restricting access to freedom of expression to only people with acceptable viewpoints is not true freedom of expression. Finally, and most important, restricting speech in order to ostensibly protect democracy does more to damage democracy than to help it. Censorship leads towards a more restrictive society, one which grows ever more similar to the totalitarian government of the Third Reich, which made the atrocities of the Holocaust possible. In order to prevent such an atrocity from happening again, no government must be allowed to gain the power over its citizens that was allowed the Third Reich. By asking for restrictions on speech you are asking for a return to the controls which gave the Third Reich its power. Therefore, we have taken a stance directly opposed to any and all forms of censorship. Community ConneXion considers it our civic duty to provide Internet access, services, and privacy to any individual or group, no matter what their political or social agenda. Thank you. Sincerely, Sameer Parekh President, Community ConneXion