Hate Groups

It is simple in principle: if illicit content is really to be prevented, then that must happen where it is put on the net. In matters of racism, that is primarily in the USA. Indeed, large providers like America Online have taken measures against racist offerings on their public systems when they have been made aware of it. Racist groups, however, can retreat to their own autonomous internet computers without problem because their provider has separated its own responsibility from that of the content put on the net by its customers. This circumstance is also being exploited by people in foreign countries who use computers on U.S. territory to globally distribute their propaganda. In this way, the USA has used the label of freedom of speech to develop into the world's leading ''safe harbor'' for racists.

German Interior minister Otto Schily is contemplating the use of spam in his battle against neo-Nazi Web sites, a government official confirmed Tuesday.

''We want to fight the neo-Nazi Web sites, but are not thinking about hacking,'' said Dirk Inger, Interior ministry spokesman.

The online edition of Germany's Der Spiegel has reported that Nazi sites could face a government-ordered DoS (denial of service) attack. By flooding the Web server with information requests, the extremist site would be paralyzed. Early last year Web giants like eBay and Yahoo were taken down in DoS attacks staged by a young hacker.

If nothing else works, Nazi sites can be taken down with spam or DoS attacks, Schily said according to Der Spiegel. However, spokesman Inger downplayed the article.

Besides online action, the government is looking at the possibilities of bringing civil actions in U.S. courts against those who create neo-Nazi sites targeted at Germany. As of yet, no cases have been filed and no online action has been taken, Inger said. Publications deemed to incite racial hate, as well as Nazi insignia and slogans, are banned in Germany. Extreme right-wing propagandists have found a safe haven in the United States, where they are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Most neo-Nazi Web sites are hosted in the United States, Inger said.

The United States could do more to curb the use of the Internet for racist material while upholding freedom of speech, experts said at a U.N. meeting Wednesday.

''New forms of communications technology such as the Internet are being used to support the dissemination of racial hatred,'' Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told participants in a three-day seminar on racism.
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''The United States has developed into a safe haven for racists spreading their word worldwide by using the Internet,'' Swiss-based information technology law expert David Rosenthal said in a paper submitted to the conference, which started Wednesday.

European countries, most of which outlaw racist speech, say most racist and hate sites are made available in or through the United States, he said.

The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino is a nonpartisan domestic research and policy center that serves the region and nation by examining the ways that bigotry, advocacy of extreme methods, or the use of terrorism deny civil or human rights to people on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other relevant status characteristic. The center seeks to aid scholars, community activists, government officials, law enforcement, the media and others with objective information to aid them in their examination and implementation of law and policy.

After a rash of right-wing attacks on citizens and property during the past year, the German cabinet has decided to ask the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe to ban the extremist National Democratic Party, or NPD. The party, according to the government, has shown "aggressive belligerence" toward the German Constitution and represents a threat to the country's democratic institutions. Not all political leaders are in favor of outlawing the organization, however. Some feel that the party could gain legitimacy if the court turns down the government's request, while others feel a ban would merely drive the extremist political elements underground.