NEEDED: DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS TO GAUGE THE FULL EFFECT OF ONLINE ANTI - SEMITISM AND HATE

摘要

It is my great honor to participate in this important conference on the relationship between hate on the Internet and hate crimes, and I thank the OSCE for inviting me to participate. More than half a billion people worldwide use the Internet. They sit down at their computers every minute of the day and night to communicate, ftp educate, to entertain, and to collaborate. The reason We are gathered here today is that some of these people misuse this powerful tool. They go online to espouse racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate. Innocent users of the Internet inadvertently may be exposed to hate online. When uninformed or easily influenced people, particularly children, come across hate propaganda, they can fall prey to its deceptive reasoning and adopt hateful beliefs themselves, sometimes going so far as to act on what they have read. We have seen and heard hate on the Internet, and we have compelling anecdotal evidence that such content inspires criminal attacks and even terrorism. We also know that the Internet serves as a virtual meeting place for criminals and terrorists.