American Jewish Committee Examines Ways To Combat Hate On The Internet

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 14 May 1998

Personal computers and access to the internet are becoming almost as commonplace as television. Extremists are using this new medium to spread their messages of hatred and bigotry, while individuals and organizations are seeking new ways to counter hatred both on the web and in society at large.

A panel of experts discussed these issues today at a session of the American Jewish Committee's 92nd Annual Meeting, taking place through Friday at the Capital Hilton Hotel.

The meeting, which took place at American University, was moderated by CNN host Bernard Kalb. The panelists were William Wassmuth, Executive Director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment; Ken McVay, Director of the Nizkor Project; Michael Gennaco, Assistant United States Attorney; and George Vradenburg III, Senior Vice President and Counsel of America Online.

Mr. Vradenburg noted that "America Online is about communities, communities of people with like interests and needs. Hate has no place in AOL's communities and we will take strong action against hate speech on our system."

While AOL "does not police the system," Mr. Vradenburg said that when a member site is brought to AOL's attention, it will carefully review it and, when appropriate, warn accounts to edit any portion of the site that is offensive or risk termination. Other accounts that create web pages which entirely "violate our community standards of no hate speech" have been terminated, he said.

Mr. Vradenburg added: "There are practical difficulties to regulating the ongoing flow of materials that appear on AOL and we can't control the web as such. We do have systems that allow parents to control and limit a child's access on the internet, and we can take immediate action when a site clearly violates the law, such as with child pornography. Mostly, we rely on proactive organizations and individual users to closely monitor the web."

Mr. Gennaco spoke of the first successful federal prosecution involving hate mail transmitted over the internet, and called for increased vigilance by law enforcement and public interest groups to deter the use of the internet for the transmission of hate speech, what he referred to as the "new method of violating the civil rights of Americans."

"There is nothing unique about the internet that insulates the sender from the criminal laws of our country," he said. ""Accordingly, a sender cannot legally target a group of individuals because of their race or religious beliefs and send them threats via the internet. Such threats are not protected under the First Amendment, and federal statutes exist which specifically prohibit such activity. When federal investigative and prosecutive authorities learn of such actions, appropriate steps will be taken, including prosecutions."

However, Mr. Gennaco acknowledged that much of this type of electronic hate mail, "while despicable," may indeed be protected by the First Amendment, and criminal prosecution may not always be the answer and cannot be the only attempt to stop the flow of electronic hate mail.

Ken McVay, who runs a British Columbia-based on-line archive that refutes Holocaust denial and other racist and bigoted propaganda that appears on the internet, insists that the issues at hand are not those of free speech.

"In many ways, we are a society living in denial. We want to pretend that hatred does not exist. In Canada, we've outlawed it. But hate on the internet is profoundly disturbing because it forces us to pull our heads out of the sand and deal with it in a new way. For the first time in history, we have to come to terms with the very real fact that we can no longer legislate unpleasant realities out of existence; the internet is something we cannot control.

"Hate sites can be established almost anywhere in the world," he added. "Even if you shut one down somewhere, it will move and start all over again somewhere else.

"My agenda is to try and remove the market for their information. If, by presenting the true facts I can demonstrate that they are lying about a certain issue, then I can remove a few hundred people from their potential marketplace and I've done them some harm."

Although he admitted that disseminating hate via the internet is effective with certain individuals, he added that he has never seen a person transformed into a white supremacist solely on the basis of what he or she has read on a website. "I suspect if someone did convert because of this stuff, we would certainly hear about it. The extremists would parade him around like an Aryan superhero."

Mr. Wassmuth spoke of the numerous ways in which modern-day computer technology, including widespread use of the internet, has helped Americans.

"From research to activism, the internet is a real benefit," he said. "After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, for example, a Listserv was organized across the country to connect experts who could share information on the Christian Patriot/militia movement. People can have instant access to very current information and, in the case of serious incidents, can communicate with each other immediately."

With his organization based in Seattle, Mr. Wassmuth further commented on an Oregon-based organization known as the Rural Organizing Project that has used the internet successfully to "overcome the isolation faced by human rights activists in rural communties. Through the internet individuals were able to have access to other activists in other communities and were able to receive regular communication.

"The internet is fast, its inexpensive, and it allows for communication and for networking that could not exist before. It is a tool that can already benefits communities in their struggle against bigotry, and its use and value for this purpose can only increase."

Mr. Wassmuth also praised the new internet site CUAH.org (Coloradans United Against Hatred), created in part with a significant grant from the American Jewish Committee. This first "virtual community" against hate crimes was inaugurated today.

"It will not only provide the citizens of Colorado with information about hate crimes," Mr. Wassmuth said, "but it will ask them to make financial pledges in response to serious hate group activities or crimes. The money will be divided between the victims of such acts or crimes and the community, for programs and initiatives to fight against hate crimes. Such a proactive site may well provide a disincentive for those who would otherwise act on their hateful ideas."

Stephen Kurzman, chair of AJC's National Affairs Commission, presided at today's meeting. Following brief remarks by Claudia Grossman, Dean of the Washington College of Law at American University, Kenneth Stern, AJC's program specialist on anti-Semitism and extremism, demonstrated the racist and anti-Semitic material available on the web.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org