1996-01-10
Craig A. Johnson
This is an excerpt sent to me by Farber posted under the "fair use"
doctrine, and lightly re-edited.
--caj
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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 14:18:28 -0500
From: Dave Farber <•••@••.•••>
Subject: IP: Stokey Il yet again
Internet ban on hate groups' messages is urged
BY PETER H. LEWIS
New York Times
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 1996
Jewish Group Seeks Internet Restraints
Citing "the rapidly expanding presence of organized hate groups on
the Internet,'' a leading Jewish human rights group 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.'' The letter from the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, a 425,000-member organization based in Los
Angeles, is the latest in a growing effort by legislators and private
interest groups to censor offensive material on the global data
network, which now connects millions of computer users worldwide.
"Internet providers have a First Amendment right and a moral
obligation not to provide these groups with a platform for their
destructive propa-ganda, '' Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center's
associate dean, wrote in the letter that was sent to Internet service
providers. Rabbi Cooper said the group's target was not the many
discussion forums where individuals debate such topics as whether the
Holocaust actually oc-curred, but rather the Internet's World Wide
Web. Dozens of groups, from white supremacists to anarchists, have
pub-lished documents on the Web about their points of view. Some are
revisionist histories questioning whether there was a Holocaust and
some are racist tracts denigrating blacks, Jews, homosexuals and other
minorities.
