In 1998, Richard Machado was convicted of sending threatening e-mail to 60 Asian students at the University of California at Irvine. And earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development settled a housing discrimination complaint against a white supremacist for allegedly using the Web to harass a fair-housing advocate who also served on a hate crimes task force. HUD is funding a national task force that will study online hate speech in a series of meetings nationwide. The SPLC's Potok and other antihate advocates contend the Net makes it easier for racists to find each other. They can also reach unlikely new audiences.
Some sites even offer downloadable hacking software.
Yale Edeiken, a Pennsylvania historian who rebuts Holocaust deniers, says he has been harassed since 1988. In the wee hours of July 9, several state troopers visited Edeiken's home. They were investigating an online post, apparently by Edeiken, that vowed to destroy an Allentown, Pa., abortion clinic. He didn't send the message, but he has a pretty good idea who hijacked his e-mail address. He'd already launched a civil suit to stop the harassment.