Hate and the Internet
Alex Sholem:
Jewish and anti-racism groups this week claimed internet hate forums were out of control after a new study showed a 25 per cent rise in the number of such websites around the globe.
The figure was revealed in the seventh annual Digital Terrorism and Hate Report launched last week by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Anti-racism activist Gerry Gable, the publisher of Searchlight magazine, claimed there were a number of dangerous British hate sites and the government should do more to stop them.
He said: “I actually think there are the laws in place to shut these sites down. You could treat them in the same way as paedophile websites, and in most cases they can be tracked down.”
According to the Wiesenthal Centre there are currently around 5,000 "problematic websites" around the world, most of them taking advantage of freedom of speech laws in the US and the lack of regulation in Russia.
Barry Fox, technology columnist for New Scientist, said: “The authorities, whether they be the government or police, are always ten steps behind the bad guys. There’s an astonishing lack of technological knowledge on problems, let alone solutions.
“They have to bring pressure to bear – whether legal or moral - on internet service providers, like AOL and the others, to block users accessing known bad sites. But it’s not easy because it’s a moving target.”
A CST spokesman said: “Much good work is being done in the US by asking service providers to enforce contractual obligations preventing users from spreading hatred. It has been very successful and many have complied.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said he was worried by a number of “British” sites hosted abroad, including Combat 18, BNP and Blood and Honour.
He said: “A lot can be done by governments, consumers and companies to marginalize these operators. We need the collective genius of the internet community to get involved in tackling this stuff.”
It's called free speech, learn to live with it.
posted by Adam Lawson @ 11:57 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
While there are a very, very small number of these cites that cross the line from legitimate discourse to inciting violence, the vast majority of these cites are just pushing policies that are well within the scope of reasonable dialog.
The "hate site" industry is just that, an industry - a way of making money from other peoples fears, with the horrible side effect of preventing certain types of political speach.
For example, the BNP seems to have a very reasonable agenda and has a relatively high level of popularity for a third party. Where is the hate?
"hate forums"
I'm not so sure I want anyone defining what "hate" is, or attempting to regulate or protect me from it.
At two different companies I have worked for, one of your linked sites (Vdare) has been blocked as "hate & discrimination". It was pretty easy to get this reversed in both cases (however, for other sites, e.g. amren, I did not even try). But the fact remains that someone put the site in the blocked category in the first place. Which is troubling.
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