Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: il cerchio si chiude

e chissa' che non si vedano le conseguenze su ICRC. Giustamente Google 
groups e' stata menzionata.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=174108
New media need a new approach to anti-Semitism
By ANDRE OBOLER
27/04/2010 23:25
Why should something condemned by society were it published in print 
suddenly become legitimate simply because it appears on-line?
The US Congress and the Italian parliament deserve credit; last week 
both held hearings into combatting on-line anti-Semitism. The differing 
testimony, however, highlights the gap between the US and the rest of 
the world. As one of the experts to appear before the Italian 
parliament, I had the opportunity to focus on the heart of the problem 
and to explore the ineffectiveness of the approach advocated to Congress 
just days earlier.
The hearing in Rome examined both Italian-language Web sites that 
distributed anti-Semitic literature and imagery, and the international 
problem in social media. The Web 2.0 examples I presented came from 
Facebook, YouTube, Google Groups, MySpace and Flickr. They included 
conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, blood libel, demonization and 
other classic and modern forms of anti-Semitism – all easily found 
across the spectrum of social media sites.
The heart of the problem is that such material is largely accepted as 
legitimate expression. Why should something condemned by society were it 
published in print or placed on posters on city streets suddenly become 
legitimate simply because it appears on-line?
Social media sites are incredibly powerful. YouTube, for example, has a 
user base 50 times larger than the combined circulation of the top 10 
newspapers in America. Can such a powerful medium really exist free of 
governmental control? With the power these companies wield, is no 
obligation owed to society?
Anti-Semitism 2.0 is the spread of the social acceptability of 
anti-Semitism through Web 2.0 technology. It creates an environment in 
which to be racist is no worse than to support the wrong soccer team. In 
such an environment, hate spreads, and society is conditioned to accept 
it. The danger is not just for the Jewish community, but reflects a 
wider breakdown in society’s values. If on-line society continues to 
develop in a moral vacuum, the lack of respect for human dignity may 
soon be reflected back in the “real” world.
THE US Congress focused on violence motivated by hate. In Italy we 
focused on the promotion of hate itself. Incitement to hate is a danger 
to public order, whether or not violence follows. Freedom of expression 
comes with responsibility – a point clearly made in the UN Charter on 
Civil and Political Rights. While Congress heard, once again, the tired 
argument of counterspeech as the best response, the Italian parliament 
discussed in technical detail the limits of counterspeech on platforms 
like Facebook.
On Facebook, having one group denying the Holocaust and another 
remembering the Holocaust would not be counterspeech, but rather two 
unrelated dialogues. To try to engage in debate in the Holocaust denial 
group is to promote it to all your contacts, not to mention entering a 
space controlled by the deniers where counterarguments can be deleted 
and those attempting counterspeech banished. It’s like responding to an 
anti-Semitic newspaper by sending it letters to the editor.
What’s worse, the curious might then view Holocaust denial or 
anti-Semitic propaganda, some of it direct from the Nazis, as something 
“contentious” and “debatable” rather than as a known and dangerous 
falsehood that has led to the death of millions.
There is no reason for platforms like Facebook and YouTube to facilitate 
the spread of hate. There is no reason on-line communities should be 
free of social values and human rights. The challenge is to create a 
civil society on-line. Such a society is not made through groups 
promoting NGOs, but through the adoption of ethical behavior by platform 
providers, on-line community leaders and the public.
Counterspeech certainly has its place, but it cannot be relied upon as a 
silver bullet. The correct place for counterspeech is with friends, 
where hate can be exposed and explained while we wait for the platform 
to remove it.
THE FIGHT for civil rights has been a long one. We should not have to 
start from scratch simply because of a change in technology and the 
emergence of social media companies with more reach than any newspaper. 
At minimum, companies that allow anyone to publish should allow anyone 
to complain. At minimum, such complaints should be reviewed in a 
reasonable time, and if they are dismissed as groundless those who file 
them should be given the option of recourse through the courts if the 
content is illegal.
In Europe, and indeed almost everywhere beside the US, hate speech 
against minorities is already illegal. If companies get it wrong, if 
they insist on harboring hate either by rejecting valid complaints or 
through excessively slow response rates, it should be governments who 
hold them to account.
We have tackled copyright as a result of the music industry; we have 
tackled privacy largely as a result of government officials in Canada 
and Italy; next we must tackle the promotion of racism and hate.
It is up to governments and intergovernmental organizations to make this 
a priority for social media companies. Yes, there will be costs, but it 
is no more than the cost of doing business in what remains a very 
lucrative market.

 e chissa' che non si vedano le conseguenze
hai ragione, pensa che su questo newsgroup c'� uno che ha scritto che i
cattolici sono contenti quando avvengono gli incidenti ferroviari, e la
bestialit� rimane l� su google groups a disposizione di tutti quelli che
la possono rileggere

 cattolici sono contenti quando avvengono gli incidenti ferroviari, 
mi sfugge la ragione per cui questa roba dovrebbe interessare chi si 
occupa di propaganda antisemita. Vuoi forse dire che la propaganda 
antisemita e' lecita?

 Facebook, YouTube, Google Groups
che la preistoria del web faccia parte del web 2.0 la dice lunga sulla
competenza di questo signore...