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hate groups on the net
This story reminded me of our discussion on Tuesday regarding whether
sites advocating marijana ought to be the net.
Anne
Congress Considers Prosecutions, Content Curbs to Fight Hate Crimes on
Web
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After hearing the Internet described as a "terrorism
tutor," the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee advocated
pressuring Internet providers to prohibit violent groups.
Leaders from several civil rights groups told a committee hearing Tuesday
that hate groups are thriving on the Internet because it is inexpensive
and widely available. But they opposed censorship.
Hate groups sponsoring computer sites were linked to a gunman who carried
out a string of drive-by shootings in July in Illinois and Indiana and to
arsonists who burned three synagogues in June around Sacramento, Calif.
"In 1999, the Internet can serve as a terrorism tutor," said Rabbi Abraham
Cooper, associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
He said Internet providers should be as creative in blocking access to
sites as they were in creating the network and commended Yahoo.com for
recently banishing 70 sites hosted by hate groups.
To encourage Internet providers to banish World Wide Web sites inciting
violence, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the committee chairman, proposed
legislation similar to that already in place to eliminate child
pornography sites. The providers could get protection from civil lawsuits
in exchange for dropping the sites, he said.
Internet providers were invited to the hearing but did not attend, Hatch
said.
Congressional attention followed an explosion of computer-savvy hate
groups.
The Southern Poverty Law Center of Montgomery, Ala., which counted one
computer hate-group site in 1995, reported 254 in 1998.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.All rights reserved. This material
may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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This is a message from: Anne M. Corbett
annetwin@email.unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/~annetwin
"It's like you hafta use all these weird words, its like you're listening
to the words like they were in a cartoon coming out of your mouth and
you're watching them thinking, "I'm cool, I'm cool." - Fidel to Det. John
Much, "Homicide: Life on the Street"
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