More than 1,000 hate sites added last year, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center

The number of hate and terrorism-related websites aimed at Canadians increased by 20%, or 1,000 sites, last year, according to the Canadian arm of US-based anti-hate watchdog Simon Wiesenthal Center. "The Internet is without a doubt the way of communication in the world today," says Leo Adler, Canadian director of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. "The number of sites has gone up, the number of websites in total has gone up, the number of people having access to and utilizing the Internet has gone up, so everything is proportional." The eighth annual CD-ROM report on digital terrorism and hate reports 6,000 websites advocating hatred towards identifiable national, ethnic, religious and other groups, including terrorist acts. In last year’s report, the Simon Wiesenthal Center catalogued 5,000 such online presences. While the CD-ROM obviously doesn’t include all those sites, "what you’ve got on there is representative of the 6,000 ," Adler says. So-called "jihadist" groups – radical Islamic organizations advocating terrorism, especially against the US and Israel – are responsible for the bulk of the sites found on the CD-ROM. However, Adler says, "if it finds its way to the Internet it’ll be on there," noting that "white power" and neo-Nazi organizations are included on the CD-ROM, as well as anti-Muslim websites, including one linked to a radical sect of Judaism, terrorist organizations linked to the "Earth First" movement such as the Earth Liberation Front, and anti-abortion websites advocating the murder of doctors performing abortions. While a wide variety of organizations spanning the spectrum of political views and ethnic and national affiliations are included on the CD-ROM, they all have one thing in common, Adler notes. "They’re becoming extremely sophisticated," he says. "They do everything from fundraising, recruiting, teaching, and they do it through everything from games for children, where you’re colouring and you then graduate up to some of these videogames which become a form of terrorist training." However, the fact that Canadians are being wooed by such hatemongers isn’t indicative of a failed legislative regime here, Adler says – quite the contrary. "We believe Canada is actually a very good model, as a result of which there are very few sites that are actually based in Canada" on Canadian servers, he says. He adds that the group has the co-operation of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, a national umbrella organization for ISPs that’s now part of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, when it comes to applying pressure on Canadian sites hosting hateful content or content advocating terrorism. Together, the two have successfully shut down sites before having to take the matter to human rights tribunals and other high-profile legal venues. In fact, says Adler, Canada’s laws governing hate speech lie between those of the European Union and the US: the European nations tend to take a harder line towards intolerant messages, while our neighbours to the south grant more latitude for free speech when it comes to objectionable material. Not surprising, the majority of sites catalogued in the CD-ROM are based on US servers. That notwithstanding, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is "not in favour of censorship," Adler says, but rather an approach where countries pass laws to protect groups from hate speech, then adequately enforce them. However, Canada’s record is not unblemished: one jihadist website – Islam Unspun – does have its servers here. The operators of the site skirt the law by publishing a collection of links and articles drawn from other non-Canadian sites, in effect acting as an aggregator of hate content. "We throw that in as an example of how high the bar is" in Canada, Adler says. "They claim to be a news service provider, where they simply run quotes from other news services. So, it’s hard to say that they promote hate – it’s like some of the companies here in Canada do news clippings." In addition to the survey, other Simon Wiesenthal Center initiatives designed to raise awareness about hate and terrorism include a program called Tools for Tolerance, which teaches police and security authorities as well as educators about hate crimes and speech, as well as a movie production house, Moriah Films, which has won two Academy Awards for documentaries on the Holocaust. With an expansion underway at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Toronto offices, Adler says the Tools for Tolerance program should be making its way to Canada by year’s end. Despite the work done to date, Adler says the Internet presents one of the biggest challenges since the Simon Wiesenthal Center was founded in 1977. "You’ve got millions and millions of people , and all you need is one-one hundredth of one percent to be susceptible," he says. To illustrate the point, Adler suggests a not-wholly inaccurate total global online audience of 500 million people worldwide – or roughly 10% of the world’s population. Assuming that even just one-one hundredth of a percent might be inclined towards terrorism and hate, you still have 50,000 potential perpetrators. "All you need is eight people to destroy a city," he notes. "So, their potential for success – and they’re aware of that – is what makes this scary."

More than 1,000 hate sites added last year, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center

Broadcast | August 9, 2006

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