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Internet Hate-Speech Ban Called 'Chilling'

from the indeed dept

A proposed ban throughout much of Europe for any sort of “hate speech” online is alarming civil liberties groups in the US. The Justice Department here has (of course) said that they won’t support such a ban since it goes against our First Amendment rights (it’s amusing that they say this as they trample plenty of our rights at the same time). Again, though, this brings up the issue of local laws and internet jurisdiction. If Europe bans these sites, they’ll simply move the US, and then what happens? Lawsuits are going to fly and no one knows who really has say over what.


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Comments on “Internet Hate-Speech Ban Called 'Chilling'”

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5 Comments
dorpus says:

It's because Europe has way more Hate Crimes

Skinheads are ten times as prevalent over there (and I quote this from law enforcement guides). Here, we have all these open dialogues on race, get thorough training in school to not be racist, but over there they prefer to sweep the problem under the rug. Many people over there still think that racism is something that only exists in America.

Hence, European governments are faced with the dilemma of allowing free expression, therefore explosive racism, or suppressing it.

LittleW0lf says:

Alarming civil liberties groups in the US

Since when has civil liberties groups in the US not been alarmed about the civil rights of foreign citizens, or US citizens for that matter. The funniest April 1st message I saw once was a message about the ACLU suing the ACLU for civil rights violations for recusing itself in order to prevent it from making a fool of itself…

Then again, as all those websites move this way, all of our technology sites will move that way due to DMCA concerns, and status quo will be maintained.

LittleW0lf says:

Re: No Subject Given

What if you hate the French? Does that count as hate speech?

Everyone hates the French, even the French hate the French (cause the French hate everything)…so I don’t see how this could possibly be considered hate speech. [Obvious Satire Intended, some of my best friends are French]

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