huridocs-tech Internet racism spurs concern

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : tallpaul@nyct.net
## date       : 07.03.00
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              The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 7 March 2000
                          Vol. 4, Number 20 (#395)
__________________________________________________________________________

HATE ON THE NET

Internet Racism Spurs Concern at UN
Geir Moulson (AP)
16 Feb 00

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.

Speakers noted the legal challenges of controlling Internet
content in, and originating from, the United States, where
the First Amendment of the constitution guarantees freedom
of speech.

There are an estimated 250 to 400 self-proclaimed hate
groups in the United States with their own Web sites.

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, whose
monitors follow links from hate groups' Web sites, said last
year about 2,000 sites had surfaced as "problematic," for
example, offering instructions for bomb-making or extolling
the Ku Klux Klan.

"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.

Although the U.S. government cannot ban racist speech
outright, it could impose "reasonable restrictions," such as
requiring a permit that would force publishers to identify
the content of their sites, Rosenthal argued.

A possible strategy to deal with Internet hate sites could
be based on whether they amount to discrimination, an area
where U.S. law is strict, he said.

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Anti-Semitic e-mail arraignment
AP
1 Mar 00

NASHUA, N.H. -- Daniel Davidson, son of former mayor Donald
Davidson, has pleaded innocent to harassing one of his
father's political rivals by sending him anti-Semitic
e-mail.

The younger Davidson entered the plea Tuesday in Nashua
District Court.

Davidson, 30, is accused of sending two threatening e-mail
messages to former Alderman Fred Teeboom, whose family fled
the Nazis in 1940. Davidson's trial was scheduled for April
12.

He faces two counts of harassment, each punishable by up to
one year in jail.

Davidson and his lawyer declined to comment after the
hearing. He has been free on personal recognizance since his
arrest Jan. 31. Teeboom also attended the arraignment. He
said the city's Jewish community is upset over the case.

Jan Teeboom, his wife, said she was relieved at Davidson's
arrest. ''I'm just glad to know who it was. I was scared to
death. I was afraid a bomb was going to come through our
window,'' she said.

The messages were sent Dec. 20 and Dec. 26 under the
pseudonym ''Fred Madden.'' The e-mail was sent using a free
account on USA.NET, police said.


Police traced the e-mail to Davidson through his Internet
service provider in Manchester, and Davidson admitted to
sending the messages when questioned by Detective Sgt. Frank
Paison, according to court records.

Davidson told police he sent the messages to annoy or
frighten Teeboom, but he had no intention of acting on his
threats, police said.

There is no evidence that the former mayor knew about his
son's mailings, police said.

One of the messages read in part, ''You should have died in
the gas chambers.... Die well jewboy.''

The charges allege that he sent the e-mails ''with a purpose
to annoy or alarm'' Teeboom and that the messages were
threatening.

Teeboom and his family lived in Amsterdam when Germany
invaded the Netherlands in 1940. His family survived the
Holocaust by going into hiding with Christian families, but
Teeboom said he lost many relatives to the Nazi genocide.

- - - - -
Judge: Threats violated Fair Housing Act
AP
2 Mar 00

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal judge has ruled that a hate
group leader violated the Fair Housing Act by making
Internet death threats against a woman who was forced to
hide in the Seattle area.

Ryan Wilson and his Philadelphia neo-Nazi group, ALPHA HQ,
were accused last month of violating the Fair Housing Act.

The case involved death threats to fair housing advocate
Bonnie Jouhari, a Reading, Pa., woman who moved to
Silverdale to escape the threats.

But anonymous death threats followed them and they moved
again, this time finding sanctuary with the family of a
pastor in south King County. Jouhari, who has since moved to
the Washington, D.C., area, could not be reached for
comment.

Jouhari's case is believed to be the first brought by HUD
for an Internet- related hate incident.

Jouhari and her daughter fled their home in Pennsylvania,
about two years ago after receiving the threats for fighting
racism and housing discrimination, only to have the hate
messages follow them to Washington state.

In the ruling Tuesday, Chief Administrative Law Judge Alan
W. Heifetz found that Wilson admitted by default to HUD's
housing discrimination charges because he failed to respond
within 30 days.

"If we are to create the One America that President Clinton
seeks, we must end housing discrimination once and for all
in every town and city in this nation, and in cyberspace as
well," HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said yesterday.

Wilson, who remains at large, is accused of being
responsible for death threats against Jouhari, a Navy
veteran with a degree in criminal psychology, that appeared
on the group'sWeb site in 1998.

A hearing to determine what monetary damages Wilson might
face is scheduled for April 18 before Judge Heifetz in
Washington, D.C.

Wilson could face civil penalties of as much as $22,000,
plus additional compensation for damages, humiliation,
mental distress and loss of housing rights.

As a fair housing specialist for the Reading-Berks County
Human Relations Council, Jouhari -- who is white --
organized a workshop on the use of the Internet by hate
groups to recruit members and intimidate enemies.

After she appeared on a television program about hate groups
in Berks County in early 1998, Jouhari's picture appeared on
the Web site of ALPHA HQ, which describes itself as "the
racial, political/paramilitary arm of the Aryan people." The
caption branded her "a race traitor" who would be "hung from
the neck from the nearest tree or lamppost."

When Dani, her biracial daughter from a previous marriage,
began receiving threats eight months later, they headed
west.

As she was preparing to leave, ALPHA HQ was hit with a
Pennsylvania state lawsuit that accused the group of
publishing terroristic threats, ethnic intimidation and
harassing messages.

The state won by default in December 1998 when the
defendants failed to show up in court.

- - - - -



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