Ross Batchelder CS408-01

Assignment 5: Hate and the Internet

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1. How would you define "hate speech?"- 1. I would define hate speech as any type of communication that is aiming to degrade someones nationality, race, sexual orientation, or personality characteristics.
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?- 2. Freedom of speech is a particularly difficult subject to define simply because no two people will always agree on the subject matter. I do believe that people have the right to say what they want but at the same time i do believe lines should be drawn to protect people that may be offended. For example, i believe that people should have the right to talk about how they may not like a certain race of people (I'm not saying by any means i agree with them) but i do not think it is fair or right to go out on the internet and rip on a single individual for being of a certain race.
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? 3. I would be pleased to see nations come together and agree to to define hate speech on a common ground however i personally don't see that happening anytime soon. Some countries have good relationships but in the large scheme of things i think it is almost a joke to think a large group of nations would be able to come to an exact agreement on what they believe should be aloud when it comes to hate speech.
4. Is censorship or filtering of hate group websites ever appropriate? If so, under what circumstances?- 4. I would say it is definitely appropriate to filter what websites put on the web when it comes to hate groups. At the very least i think that before entering a web page their should be an initial page that comes up warning people that before they enter the site they should know that it is a website that contains hate speech and defines what that hate speech is.
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?- 5. I think it is somewhat difficult to hold somebody responsible for creating a hate website for the actions of what someone who views their web page. That being said if the site is specifically instructing people to commit a hate crime a definitely believe the creator of the site should be just as liable in a court of law as the people committing the crimes.
6. Would you advocate special restrictions on making hate related material available to children via the Internet? (If so, what would you propose?)- 6. I believe that hate related material should not be seen by anyone under the age of 18. However just as most pornographic websites do whatever they can to block non-adults from coming on to their sites i realize there are ways to get around their blockades and filters. Realitically i would do whatever was legally possible to protect children from hate speech on the web but i also realize that their is only so much we as people can legally do to block children from harmful material.
7. Should there be any distinction between what is legal online and what is legal offline?- 7. I believe that it should be more difficult to access information online then in the real world for one very important reason. Offline in the real world when people make statements they are more likely to be held accountable for what they say because if somebody witnesses you saying something that they believe is "hate speech" they know it directly came from your mouth. On the world wide web it is extremely easy for people to post things anonymously or even under a false identification because the internet is a large exchange of free information that you can't always just pin to one person all the time.
8. Should the standards that apply to hate-related material be different from the standards that apply to other objectionable material such as pornography?- 8. I believe that their should be different standard held for different subjects such as pornography. With pornography i believe that consenting adults who put "film" appropriate material on the web should not be penalized because i do not see the issue with it. Obviously their are many different types of pornography, so for illegal products such as child pornography the laws are going to be different. I don't think you can put the same laws on pornography and hate speech because they both encompass a broad category of material making it nearly impossible for specific laws to be defined.