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| Bulletin Board an Avalanche of Slurs Simply 'Free Speech'? |
| Compiled by GayToday
Internet providers took wildly different actions against
subscribers who bombarded the popular Matthew Shepard Online Resources
bulletin board with anti-gay
messages last week. While some immediately canceled clients'
accounts, others told the Shepard site administrator to "get a life."
"In addition to nearly destroying my bulletin board, this week's virtual violence showed serious flaws with the policies of a number of Internet providers," said John Aravosis, president of Wired Strategies, and administrator of the Shepard Web site. "Some providers were shocked at the hatred shown by their subscribers, and took immediate action, while others either dragged their feet, didn't respond, or refused to take action," Aravosis said.
The popular Shepard message board was shut down December 14 as the result of a
coordinated attack by thousands of anti-gay fans of pro-wrestler Mick
Foley. Foley's supporters, angered that the slain student was winning a
Time magazine online poll for "Man of the Year," overwhelmed the board with a continuous onslaught of anti-Shepard and anti-gay messages, the volume
and venom of which required the site to be temporarily shut down.
Aravosis spent most of the next two days trying to halt the attack by pleading with Internet providers to intervene with their subscribers. "Some Internet providers were great. When one wrestling fan wrote that 'AIDS kills fags and so do I' and called gays 'cum slurping fags', PSINET immediately canceled his account," said Aravosis. "Others, like America Online, have taken four days to determine how to respond to a subscriber who wrote 'Matthew Shepard Is A Fag!' ", Aravosis said. And some, like Hughes Electronic Commerce in Lakeland, California, initially refused to take action against a client who called Matt "Dead Homo of the Year" and continued to post harassing messages throughout Monday, December 14. "A man identifying himself as an attorney with Hughes called me Monday night to say they couldn't take action unless their client had broken the law," Aravosis said. "When I identified myself as the administrator of the Matthew Shepard Web site, and requested the details of Hughes' harassment policy, the representative said 'who in the hell are you!?' and then 'when you become a stockholder' he would answer my questions. "The conversation ended with him telling me, twice: 'It seems that you need to get a life, friend'," Aravosis reported. "I re-read the last quote, he confirmed it, and then said I'd be 'subject to litigation' if I told anyone what he'd just said," Aravosis reported. Hughes reports that they have now cancelled the account of the subscriber in question. "Internet providers praise the First Amendment, but turn a blind eye when their clients muzzle pro-gay speech," Aravosis observed. "Because of their clients, my bulletin board is on life support," Aravosis reported, "the energy and excitement that was there as recently as last Sunday still hasn't returned, and never may. Why even have harassment policies if they're not going to enforce them?" Aravosis concluded: "When I'm gay bashed on the street, it's a crime - but when it happens online, it's free speech." "As more Americans move online for business, shopping, and even dating, the rules of civilized society are going to have to apply," Aravosis said, "and Internet providers will have to take a stand against virtual violence, so more of us don't become roadkill on the information superhighway," Related Stories from the GayToday Archive: Wrestling Fans Attack Matthew Shepard Web Site Matthew Shepard Leads Time's Man of the Year' Poll GayToday'sMatthew Shepard/Hate Crimes Series Related Sites Matthew Shepard Message Board Time Man of the Year Voting Hughes Electronic Commerce PSI Net GayToday does not endorse related sites. |
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