Nazis, Klansmen, and Bashers Beware! We're out to get you!

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/int....ap/index.html

With comments marked below with -- --

International conference targets Internet hate speech

PARIS, France (AP) -- European neo-Nazis post online pictures of paint-smeared mosques. Web sites of Islamic radicals call for holy war on the West. Aliases like "Jew Killer" pop up on Internet game sites.

International experts met Wednesday in Paris to tackle the tricky task of fighting anti-Semitic, racist and xenophobic propaganda on the Internet -- seen as a chief factor in a rise in hate crime.
-- Bloody Well time! --

Purveyors of hate have found a potent tool in the Internet, spreading fear with such grisly images as the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
-- They did WHAT!? --

The new technology has proven to be a boon for hatreds of old, many experts say.
-- No comment --

"Our responsibility is to underline that by its own characteristics -- notably, immediacy and anonymity -- the Internet has seduced the networks of intolerance," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in opening remarks at the two-day conference.
-- Just don't cencor the internet, aye? --

France, which is spearheading the effort, has faced a surge in anti-Semitic violence in the last two years. Some fault the growth of Internet use among hate groups.
-- Don't blame the Internet, blame these hate groups! --

But differing views about the limits of free speech and the ease of public access to the nebulous, anonymous Web largely stymied officials hoping to find common ground in Wednesday's talks.
-- All I can say is: You can't make an omlet without breaking some eggs. --

A sticking point was whether the United States, which has championed nearly unfettered free speech, would line up with European countries that have banned racist or anti-Semitic speech in public.
-- Championed free speech? Hardly! The country is practically ruled by the FCC. --


The dilemma is all the more acute because the Internet is global, easy to use and tough to regulate -- as shown by widespread sharing of music online, an illegal practice that has confounded record companies. Terror groups have also used the Internet to plot attacks.
-- Don't get me started on Music Sharing. Comment on Terror Group Websites: Where are hackers when you REALLY need them!? --

American approach differs
There are no easy solutions, delegates said. Many urged more youth education, better cooperation between governments and Internet service providers, or new studies on links between Web racism and hate crimes.
-- No comment on this either. --

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a 55-country body that promotes security and human rights, organized the conference with the backing of the French government. Six countries in the Middle East and North Africa also sent envoys. The meeting is one of three OSCE conferences on anti-Semitism and racism this year.
-- I got nothin'. --

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Dan Bryant acknowledged the American approach differs from that of other countries.
-- No comment --

"We believe that government efforts to regulate bias-motivated speech on the Internet are fundamentally mistaken," Bryant said. "At the same time, however, the United States has not stood and will not stand idly by, when individuals cross the line from protected speech to criminal conduct."
-- My head is empty (no comment) --

He said the United States believes the best way to reduce hate speech is to confront it, by promoting tolerance, understanding and other ideas that enlighten.
-- Thank you, captain obvious! --

Robert Badinter, a former French justice minister, said that of 4,000 "racist sites" counted worldwide in 2002, some 2,500 were based in the United States.
-- No wonder the French didn't wanna go in there (you know what I mean) --

Growing problem
There are signs that online hate is getting worse.

The French foreign minister cited a recent report in Britain that showed the number of "violent and extremist sites" had ballooned by 300 percent in the last four years in 15 OSCE countries surveyed.
-- If these guys wanna play rough, let's bite their heads off like ozzy did to that bat! --

France last year banned a Web site responsible for thousands of daily racist messages, one of which claimed responsibility for dousing mosques with paint in the colors of the French flag, the International Network Against Cyber Hate wrote in a report released Wednesday.
-- That's nothing. Over in Toronto, some jewish establisment (which I can't remember) was blown up and a jewish cemetary was decimated. --

Christopher Wolf, chairman of the Internet Task Force of the U.S. Anti-Defamation League, pointed out how one student on a blog site at Brandeis University described playing an Internet video game against a rival who had nicknamed himself "Jew Killer."
-- Arrgghh! Again they point the finger at Video games! --

In Egypt, some sites have shown pictures of American soldiers in Iraq to dredge up anti-U.S. feeling; one purportedly showed the June 8 killing of American civilian Robert Jacobs in Saudi Arabia.
-- That's nasty. --

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group based in Los Angeles, said one strategy is for Internet service providers in the United States to honor anti-racism language in their own contracts.
-- too obvious. --

But even that won't stamp out Internet hate, he said.
-- No, I'd think not. --

"Will this put the (Ku Klux Klan) out of business? No. They will be able to find some way of getting their messages back online," he said. "But it will put a crimp in that subculture on the Internet."
-- I said it before, and I'll say it again: Just kick 'em the hell outta here! --

[Chewbacca]

Let the haters scream all they want at thier little rallies and let them have thier websites too. Alls they got left is the ability to be loud. Any incitement by a hate organization to do violence or harm will not only mean criminal charges, but the Southen Poverty Law Center loves to sue those kinds of groups into bankruptcy as well.

Also, I would rather have them out in the open where they can be observed rather than lurking unseen and anomynous in the shadows.

[Timber Loftis]

Freedom of Speech anyone?

A hate crime may be illegal, but I have a right to hate and to say so and to try to convince others to hate as well.

[Sir Degrader]

Stick it to them Timber. Everyone has rights, and denying those rights to a skinhead or whatnot makes you worse then them.

[John D Harris]

Everybody has the right to be stupid and hate filled bigoted sackes of furmented Horse manure. Let'em mouth off if M. Moore and Rush can mouth off so can everybody else. TALK is CHEAP, when they break a law and take an action then throw their sorry rear ends in prison and let'em become some big inmate's love slave.

Like I used to tell the Elders of my church as a kid you can't seek to ban girlie mags and claim the freedom of speach about the Bible. If you're going to seek Gov't approval to ban one you have to seek Gov't approval to ban both. Legal and moral are not the same thing.

[Thoran]

Originally posted by John D Harris: Everybody has the right to be stupid and hate filled bigoted sackes of furmented Horse manure. Let'em mouth off if M. Moore and Rush can mouth off so can everybody else. TALK is CHEAP, when they break a law and take an action then throw their sorry rear ends in prison and let'em become some big inmate's love slave. Like I used to tell the Elders of my church as a kid you can't seek to ban girlie mags and claim the freedom of speach about the Bible. If you're going to seek Gov't approval to ban one you have to seek Gov't approval to ban both. Legal and moral are not the same thing.

What he said... except the church part... I was too busy lookin at girlie mags to go to church... well... not really... I was in church too but I'd WANTED to be lookin at girlie mags.

Free Speech... it's not just for people who agree with you! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Now incitemement, that's a hairy topic but one that I think will become more and more explored as time goes on.

[johnny]

Freedom of speech is fine with me, but if someone brings the Hitler salute anywhere near me, i call upon the freedom of smashing his head in with a stick.

[pritchke]

It is illegal to do a Hitler salute in Germany even if it is acting, or stand up comedy. Is it the same in the Netherlands?

[ 06-17-2004, 05:15 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[johnny]

Originally posted by pritchke: It is illegal to do a Hitler salute in Germany even if it is acting, or stand up comedy. Is it the same in the Netherlands?

Yeah, you get fined if they see you do it, but that doesn't stop those White Power characters from doing it. Teenagers also have a habit of doing it, basically because they don't even know what it stands for. They think of it as something funny, that's the saddest part of it.

[Ronn_Bman]

Until we understand that the anger they feel is our fault, they'll never stop. In fact, until we understand, everything they do is understandable.