http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020222/wr_nm/tech_internet_hatespeech_dc_1
Move to Ban Net 'Hate Speech' Draws
Praise, Concern
Fri Feb 22,12:46 PM ET
By Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Authors of emails and Internet postings that
contain racist or xenophobic material may face criminal charges under
a
proposed European treaty that is dividing the Internet and law
enforcement communities.
The proposal, drafted by the Council of Europe, would essentially
outlaw the publishing of "hate
speech" on the Internet. Welcomed by law enforcement agencies, it has
been slammed by Internet
firms as impossible to enforce.
The agreement would create a comprehensive legal framework for
international crimefighters as they
strive to identify and prosecute cross-border hate crimes on the
Internet, an area politicians are eager
to crack down on in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
"We must harmonize the laws first so that countries can cooperate in
criminal investigations regarding
the Internet," Peter Csonka, principal administrator at the Council
of Europe, told Reuters on Friday.
He added that many member states have already criminalized certain
activities regarded as racist or
xenophobic -- such as threatening a group on the grounds of race,
color or religion -- and that the
treaty would seek to extend that onto the Net.
FREE SPEECH OR RACIAL HATRED? The proposal has already provoked
protest from civil
liberties groups who maintain the proposal could criminalize free
speech, and from some Internet firms
concerned over liability issues.
Csonka said that telecommunications firms and Internet service
providers have contacted the council
asking for clarification on whether they would be held liable for
hate speech posted or emailed by their
customers.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) typically operate a policy of
"notification and takedown," in which
they will remove sites containing objectionable material if it's
first brought to their attention.
Self-policing in this manner, they say, is the best way to tackle
hate speech online.
"It's almost impossible, and this is the consensus in the IPS
community too, to monitor every single
piece of Web space in the Internet community," said Paul Barker,
director of corporate affairs at
Freeserve, the British ISP owned by France's Wanadoo .
Csonka said the liability concerns raised by ISPs and Web site
operators have not yet been addressed.
Civil liberty groups have also objected to the proposal, fearing it
could bring the more rigorous
anti-hate speech laws that exist in continental Europe to the more
liberal UK and U.S.
For example, it is unlawful to post or sell Nazi regalia or
propaganda on the Internet in France and
Germany, but there are few legal curbs in the U.S. and Britain.
"This proposal could potentially outlaw free speech," said Malcolm
Hutty, general director for
Campaign Against Censorship on the Internet in Britain, or CACIB.
"That would be a great
infringement of civil rights."
CACIB and sister organizations of online rights group, the Global
Internet Liberty Campaign, have
begun to formulate a campaign to raise awareness for the new policy.
The Convention on Cybercrime is the fruit of unprecedented
international cooperation, receiving input
from 43 European countries plus the United States, Japan, Canada and
South Africa.
Drafted by the Council of Europe, a pan-European legal forum which
works for the harmonization of
laws across the continent, the treaty would need individual
ratification by each before it is adopted into
law. It has so far been signed, but not yet ratified, by 32 nations.
The "hate speech" amendment is expected to be brought into the
convention this July, officials said,
after the current public input period ends.
