When they came for the Jews...

[Futplex]

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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 at pseudonym.com>

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