Australian Internet Racial Laws Tested



http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19981102/V000216-110298-idx.html 

Aussie Internet Racial Laws Tested 
Monday, November 2, 1998; 6:19 a.m. EST

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- In the first test of Australia's
anti-discrimination laws involving the Internet, a government commission
heard arguments today over a Web site that claims the Holocaust never
happened. 

The case was brought by the Executive Council of Australia Jewry against a
group called the Adelaide Institute -- a private organization. 

In addition to claiming the Holocaust was a hoax, the institute's website
contains a series of anti-Semitic statements, said Peter Wertheim, the
Jewish group's vice president. 

The Web site contains statements about ``the Jewish religion, Jewish
people, Jewish history which really amount to a stream of derogatory
generalizations about the Jewish people,'' Wertheim said. 

Millions of Jews died in Nazi death camps during World War II. Adelaide
Institute director Frederick Toben stormed out of the proceedings before a
New South Wales State commission because it wouldn't let him argue that the
extermination didn't occur. 

The Jewish group is seeking a public apology, removal of the website
material, and an order preventing future Internet publication of similar
material by the institute. 

It was not clear when the commission would rule on the matter. 


© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
 


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