So serious is the threat in the eyes of the Anti-Defamation League that the issue headed its recently released 1997 list, of the top 10 stories affecting American Jewry. While the ADL in New York and the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles agree on the urgency of stemming the flow of electronic hate messages, their approaches differ. ADL is teaming up with a software company to develop a filter enabling Internet users to screen out hate sites, substituting instead messages on the dangers of prejudice. The filter is being developed by The Learning Group, whose Cyber Patrol program is used widely by parents to block Web sites carrying pornographic and graphically violent material. For its part, the Wiesenthal Center hopes to stem the spread of hate messages by urging commercial on-line companies to police themselves.
Cooper rejects the latter line of argument.
Web sites are marketing tools, just like ads in newspapers, he said. Similar to the New York Times, which won't run a Ku Klux Klan ad, the ISPs have the right to set certain standards. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.