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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Education / Workshop 4 on Education, "Use and Misuse of the Internet" / Presentation by Dr. Christopher Wolf | |||||||||
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Report from Workshop 4 on Education: "Use and misuse of the Internet" Presentation by Mrs. Karen Jungblut Presentation by Asst. Director Mark Weitzman Presentation by Dr. Christopher Wolf Presentation by Dr. Christopher Wolf Wolf, Christopher Online Echos of the Holocaust Hate and extremism on the Internet mirrors the expansion of Internet use. Just as the Internet is a valuable tool for Holocaust education, it also allows anti-Semites, holocaust revisionists and hate mongers access to millions of people worldwide. The Internet provides a new low cost and widely-available type of information distribution, since time and distance are compressed. Information posted there is available instantaneously, twenty-four hours a day, from anywhere on the planet. The World Wide Web creates the illusion that all information is present in the user’s computer at the instant it is needed. Accessing information has never been easier. Like television, the Internet can "broadcast" information to vast audiences. Millions of Internet users can view the same World Wide Web site simultaneously, and Web sites, like television programs, are able to transmit text, sound, photos, and moving images. "The benefit is that we reach tens of thousands of people, potentially millions," Don Black said of the web soon after founding Stormfront, one of the leading hate sites.. "It’s almost like having a TV network." The growth of the Internet represents a revolution in communication as significant as that begun by the development of the printing press in the 15th century. Yet the time needed for its impact to be felt has been drastically telescoped. What took centuries is now taking place in a matter of a few years. For years, hate groups have created written materials of every kind to spread their propaganda, including books, glossy magazines, newspapers, flyers and even graffiti. As communication technologies advanced, these groups have kept up. First, they used standard broadcast-band and shortwave radio, audiotape, videotape and public-access cable TV. More recently, bigots of all kinds recognized the Internet’s power and rushed to use it to rally their supporters, preach to the unconverted, and intimidate those whom they perceive as their enemies. Even before Stormfront appeared on the Web, extremists had begun exploiting other ways to use the Internet, and these practices continue today. Lively conversations take place on numerous extremist Internet Relay Chat channels, such as #Nazi and #Klan. Newsgroups have been compared to community bulletin boards. Haters of all sorts debate, rant, and insult their opponents on newsgroups with titles such as alt.politics.white-power and alt.revisionism. Electronic mailing lists (or "listservs") flourish as well. Such lists are like private "bulletin boards" available only to subscribers. While some lists keep their subscription information confidential, most are easy to join. Postings to some of these lists are moderated (i.e., monitored by the list operator who applies certain standards of acceptability), but others are entirely unregulated. In fashioning their lists, extremists and racists create an "electronic community" of like-minded people. Before the Internet, many extremists worked in relative isolation, forced to make a great effort to connect with others who shared their ideology. Today, on the Internet, bigots communicate easily, inexpensively, and sometimes anonymously with hundreds of fellow extremists. Online, extremists reinforce more easily each other’s hateful convictions. E-mail can also be used to spread hate propaganda. With a mailing list and a message, hate mailings can easily reach the mailboxes of large numbers of people. Enterprising haters have managed to mass-mail hate materials to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of unsuspecting people without revealing their identity. Though purveyors of hate make use of all the communication tools the Internet provides, the World Wide Web is their forum of choice. In addition to its multimedia capabilities and popularity with Internet users, the Web allows bigots to control their message. Organized haters complain about civil rights activists who critique their manifestoes in USENET newsgroups and other interactive forums. In contrast, haters can refuse to publish critical messages on their Web sites, just as a TV station can refuse to broadcast another station’s opinions over its airwaves. And, thus, the ultimate issue is what can and should be done about hatemongers on the Internet–by governments, by technology companies, and by parents, teachers and concerned citizens? >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||