ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 47 May 25, 1999 In this issue: Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Violence and Hate on Internet; Committee Chairman Promises Early Consideration of S. 97 In the wake of the school shootings in Littleton, CO, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on May 20 on the availability of information on the Internet related to hate, violence and bomb building. Testifying before the committee were Peter Nickerson, CEO of N2H2, Inc., a company which markets filtering services to business and government as well as a "kid friendly" search engine to schools and libraries; Mark Potok, director of intelligence at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Howard Berkowitz, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League; and Mark James, special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Attending the hearing were Sens. John McCain(R-AZ), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), John Rockefeller (D-WV), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Slade Gorton (R-WA). Sen. McCain, the committee chairman and principal sponsor of S.97, a bill to require E-rate participants to use blocking and filtering technology, began by stating that those who preach hate can spread their "toxic message" to a larger audience on the Internet. He urged passage of S.97 to help parents and reduce the threat not only to the children who view the material but to those impacted by their actions. He announced his intention to mark up S. 97 soon. Dr. Nickerson, CEO of N2H2, a privately-held company based in Seattle which provides Internet filtering and caching services, presented a slide show on the range of hate and violence Web sites on the Internet. He said that N2H2's filtering product addresses many of the problems of earlier filtering products. Most importantly, he said, it does not use keyword blocking; it relies instead on 75 employees who review more than 10,000 sites a day. Nickerson explained that schools using this product can block a wide range of categories, ask for exceptions from categories, or unblock educationally valuable material upon demand -- such as a site on a war that might otherwise be blocked because of violence. N2H2 also markets "Searchopolis," a search portal "appropriate for K-12." He concluded his testimony by urging that E-rate funds be permitted to pay for filtering products. Sen. McCain asked Nickerson if the concern about blocking out valuable sites by typing in a keyword like "breast" was still valid. Nickerson replied that the concern was no longer valid for most products and that no school should be on the Internet without filtering and blocking software. Mr. Berkowitz, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, charged that the Internet generation has been "seriously infected with the virus of hate," and reviewed a number of hate sites and their tactics to recruit young people. He explained that while these sites were constitutionally protected, they could be filtered. Berkowitz described a filter available online from the Anti- Defamation League which not only blocks hate sites but redirected users to educational sites on hate. He expressed concern about mandatory filtering in public institutions, particularly libraries, and noted that there were constitutional concerns that needed to be addressed as well. Mr. Potok, director of intelligence at the Southern Poverty Law Center, described how hate groups target children by using cross word puzzles, hangman and video games -- such as those featuring militant Aryan Warriors -- to bring children to their sites and spread their message. When asked by the chairman whether these sites were outside the protection of the Constitution, Potok responded that they generally are not. In response to a question about filters, Potok expressed reservations about the usefulness of such products. He said that for many hate sites, one has to click through many pages to discover the site's real purpose. He urged that the "real inoculation" was communication between parents and children, and that the presence of these sites should be treated no differently than "if the Klan were coming to town." Mr. James, special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, described the bomb making sites on the Web and the availability of books like the "Anarchist's Cookbook" and the Army's manual on explosives. He argued that the number of incidents recorded or reported that could be tied in some manner to information on the Internet had grown from five in the mid- 1980s to more than thirty in 1996. One Senator expressed concern as to whether or not the legislation would work. "My concern is that after thirty years and billions of dollars fighting drugs, we are back to the task of education," said Ernest Hollings, ranking minority member and cosponsor of the legislation. "Why shouldn't we start with education here?" It was not clear whether Hollings' statement signaled a new position on the bill. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley; Managing Editor: Deirdre Herman; Contributors: Phyllis Albritton, Mary Costabile, Carol Henderson, Peter Kaplan, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.