Hoang Vu's works on CS408

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Assignment 6: Hate and the Internet."

1. How would you define "hate speech"?

For me, hate speech is an impropriate and unethical way of communication which attack people based on their races, genders and religious.

2. Would you advocate placing limits on free expression (as most European countries do) in order to deal with the problems posed by hate speech? If so, how would you define those limits?

I would strongly agree with the idea that we should place the limits on free expression. The Governments should have some level of fine or punishment to people who directly attack others using free expression.

3. Should we attempt to reach an international consensus on how to define hate speech and on the standards (if any) to be applied in dealing with it?

If we make it become a standard, it will be easier for different Governments to deal with international criminals. Moreover, different countries should have same definitions of hate speech to prevent war or conflictions.

4. Is censorship or filtering of hate group websites ever appropriate? If so, under what circumstances?

In my opinion, censorship is still appropriate. Because the hate group websites can contain huge amount of hate speeches and are easy to be accessed by many people around the world. Consequently, it will lead to very bad circumstances.

5. Should creators of hate-oriented Web sites be held responsible for actions of people (such as the ‘lone wolves,’ people who commit crimes of hatred without specific instructions) who view those sites and then commit hate crimes?

Yes, the creators of hate-oriented Web sites should take all the responsibilities to the actions of people who use information from these types of websites to commit crimes. Because those creators are the ones who guide other people to do bad things even unintentionally

6. Would you advocate special restrictions on making hate-related material available to children via the Internet? (If so, what would you propose?)

Yes, I would advocate special restrictions on making hate-related material available to children via the Internet. For instance, I would have a law to make the parents take more care on their kids to prevent them from accessing it.

7. Should there be any distinction between what is legal online and what is legal offline?

No, I don’t think there should be any distinction between legal online and legal offline. Because the illegal offline materials can be uploaded online easily.

8. Should the standards that apply to hate-related material be different from the standards that apply to other objectionable material such as pornography?

In my opinion, they should have different standards. Therefore, it would help kids to know what is right thing to do and what is wrong thing to avoid.