February 17, 2000

U.S.-based Internet Racism Raises Concern At U.N. Meeting

GENEVA (AP) -- 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.