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[FYI] (Fwd) FC: SurfControl dubs libertarian discussion site "hate speech"




------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Tue, 24 Sep 2002 02:43:54 -0400
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
Subject:        	FC: SurfControl dubs libertarian discussion site "hate speech"
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com




http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_computers&Num
ber=233878&t=-1#Post233878

Libertarian Free-Speech site categorized as *Hate Speech* site by
SurfControl LibertyForum September 18, 2002

   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

   Libertarians Speak and Nannies Freak

   CYBERSPACE - September 19, 2002: LibertyForum
   (http://www.libertyforum.org), a libertarian web-based news and
   political discussion site, has been listed as a "hate speech" site
   shortly after its September 13, 2002 opening. This categorization
   comes courtesy of SurfControl (http://www.surfcontrol.com), which
   characterizes itself as "The World's Leading Web Filtering Software
   Company." A capture of LibertyForum's Home Page
   (http://www.libertyforum.org/free-speech/020918_home.html) at the
   time the information was first posted by a forum member, reveals
   "Editor's Choice" articles with titles such as, "Libertarian
   Party's Women Release Calendar," "Was Jesus a Pacifist?,"
   "Socialism and Capital Stock," as well as a couple of articles with
   titles such as "Racism and Collectivism: A series," and "Racism and
   Collectivism: Racism FAQ." The latter two articles criticizing
   racism as a form of collectivism and thus antithetical to
   libertarian principles. LibertyForum is a self-described
   free-speech site, where members discuss and debate, often heatedly,
   news stories and topics such as economics, philosophy, religion,
   drugs, the Middle East, international affairs, computers, and
   technology. It currently has a growing membership of over 700
   members and a daily posting volume of 1,500 to 2,000 posts per day.
   The site is self-regulating to a large degree and utilizes a Post
   Rating System based on Slashdot.org's (http://Slashdot.org) "Karma"
   moderation system which allows its members to rate posts based on
   their content. Posts that contain personal insults or bigoted
   comments are routinely rated down by the site's membership, as are
   "trolls," purposely inflammatory posts intended to evoke strong
   reactions. Interestingly, a cursory search of SurfControl reveals
   that other discussion sites with a longer history and far greater
   membership than LibertyForum, are not categorized as "Hate Speech,"
   even though their content is often far more extreme than that found
   at LibertyForum. One such example is FreeRepublic
   (http://www.freerepublic.com), a popular site with conservatives,
   that bills itself as "The Premier Conservative News Forum." A
   Google search of FreeRepublic for the word "ragheads," a derogatory
   term for Arabs, returns links to comments such as "I think the IDF
   has been thinking payback for over a decade. It should be fun to
   watch, when it happens. Molten ragheads all around." (Source:
   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/624469/posts?page=44#44) Yet
   SurfControl categorizes FreeRepublic as "Government & Politics."
   John Deere, one of the site's founders, finds it "ironic, that we
   would be termed a 'hate speech' site, since one of our goals is to
   challenge and debunk the fallacious attitudes that racism and
   collectivism are composed of." He continues, "Ayn Rand wrote,
   'Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.
   It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political
   significance to a man's genetic lineage . . . . Which means, in
   practice, that a man is to be judged not by his own character and
   actions, but by characteristics and actions of a collective of
   ancestors,' " and adds that "libertarians are first and foremost
   advocates of the individual and of individual responsibility.
   Racism is, at its core, a violation of our libertarian principles."
   As a result of SurfControl's listing of LibertyForum as a "hate
   speech" site, access to the site is blocked for subscribers and
   users of SurfControl's web filtering software. Businesses,
   concerned about legal liability often implement web filtering
   content to keep employees from accessing content on the internet
   that might leave the employer open to lawsuits. Families also use
   web filtering software to limit access to internet content for
   children and teens. John Deere states that he will be contacting
   SurfControl immediately to determine what can be done to remove
   LibertyForum from its "Hate Speech" category, and wonders at the
   speed with which the newly opened site was negatively categorized
   by SurfControl. "It certainly is peculiar," he concludes.
   LibertyForum is found at http://www.libertyforum.org . Contact:
   John Deere forums@libertyforum.org http://www.libertyforum.org ###

   Edited by John Deere on 09/19/02 11:53 PM.
   Editor: Excerpt from article:  LibertyForum
   (http://www.libertyforum.org), a libertarian web-based news and
   political discussion site, has been listed as a "hate speech" site
   shortly after its September 13, 2002 opening. This categorization
   comes courtesy of SurfControl (http://www.surfcontrol.com), which
   characterizes itself as "The World's Leading Web Filtering Software
   Company."



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