THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 7, 1995 TAG: 9508050034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THE GATEWAY
EXPLORING THE COMPUTER WORLD
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
GROUPS THAT promote hatred and acts of terror against certain types of people, such as the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, are often denied advertising on television stations and newspapers to promote their messages.
But there are no barriers in cyberspace to stop hate groups from spreading their philosophies.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights agency based in Los Angeles, launched its World Wide Web site in July with activities devoted to monitoring and fighting hate speech on the Internet.
``We understood very early that the Internet and on-line services provide the potential for these hate groups to break into the mainstream,'' said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center's associate dean. ``We monitor the lunatic fringe and the battlefield has changed. It has moved into cyberspace.''
One of the site's main features is a survey about hate speech on the Internet. The questions prompt people to think about the tensions between freedom of speech, even when it's offensive, and the need for mutual respect and tolerance in our country. A few samples:
``Many countries around the world have laws prohibiting `hate speech.' Do you feel such laws are an effective means of curtailing acts of bigotry and hatred?''
``If use of the Internet for promotion of hatred and bigotry were to be restricted, by which means do you think this can be best achieved?''
Cooper doesn't espouse government intervention as the first line of defense for fighting hate speech in cyberspace. One reason: In cyberspace, national boundaries don't apply.
Instead, he believes that the most effective approach may be instilling a sense of responsibility in both computer users and companies that provide on-line services. He's talked about the issue at Prodigy, a computer on-line service company, and at computer camps for teenagers.
Companies have to decide, ``are they merely a switching station, a publishing service or something in between?'' Cooper said. ``It would be asking too much of an on-line provider to pre-screen everything.'' But he believes that on-line companies should silence a person or organization that posts hateful and prejudiced speech by refunding the service fee and denying access.
The Wiesenthal Center is a worldwide leader in Holocaust education, and it is using its new site to teach people general facts about the Nazi extermination of an estimated 6 million Jews during World War II. The site includes a list of 36 questions most frequently asked about the Holocaust; clicking a mouse on the question reveals a detailed answer.
Teaching about the Holocaust online poses problems that don't crop up in classrooms or libraries, Cooper said. Computer users who search the Internet with the key word ``Holocaust'' will get a list of both legitimate historians and Holocaust revisionists, who deny - despite abundant physical evidence and written accounts - that the Holocaust ever occurred.
Those using computer sites as a basis for historical research should back up their discoveries by reading some history books, he said. ``It's a wonderful technology, but the world is still catching up with it.'' MEMO: The Simon Wiesenthal Center's World Wide Web site can be accessed at
http://www.wiesenthal.com.
by CNB