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Racist Canadian Website Denied Internet Service |
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Written by Wire Services
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Monday, 19 December 2005 |
The Canadian Homeland Migration website, formerly located at http://members.shaw.ca/nish1/index.html, described itself as 'The Canadian Arm of the Northwest Migration Movement', has been quickly removed by Shaw Cablesystems, as a result of a notification by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. Shaw formerly hosted this extremist Canadian website.
According to Leo Adler, Director of National Affairs for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, the site in question used, "language which is attributed to white supremacist David Lane, the now imprisoned founder of The Order who is serving sentences in the US totaling 190 years on racketeering charges and civil rights violations." This 'Movement' calls for the creation of an ethnically segregated "Whites Only" community in the Pacific Northwest. The site also contained active links to some of the most extreme racist sites on the Internet, including the "Stormfront", "Resistance", and "Aryanwear" websites.
Shaw representative Mike Harrison said, "We reviewed the website in question, Canadian Homeland Migration, and determined that it violates our Internet Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service." Harrison had forwarded the information to the company's Acceptable Use Policy team, to begin the process of having the Canadian Homeland Migration content removed. Over the years, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has developed an international reputation as an authority on the misuse of the Internet for racist, hate, and terrorist causes. The Center publishes an annual survey of Internet based "Digital Terrorism and Hate," which has become a standard reference for understanding online extremist activities. The latest version of this survey, published in CD format, is titled Digital Terrorism and Hate 2005. It is based on the study of over 5,000 'problematic' Internet hate sites, portals, blogs, forums, games and videos, and clearly lays out how the Internet is being used to promote a wide array of racist, intolerant, terrorist and antisemitic causes. Extremists use the Internet to recruit followers, raise money, organize hate activities, and promote their causes. In the Canadian Homeland Migration case, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal wish to applaud Shaw Cablesystems' prompt action. In a message to Shaw, Leo Adler stated, "Our organization has always been proud of how Canadian (Internet services) take their responsibilities seriously, and how they are vigilant to see to it that there is no breach of either Canada's laws or (Internet companies') Terms of Service." |