Politech: FC: SurfControl dubs libertarian discussion site "hate speech"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_computers&Number=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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