From: sameer <sameer@c2.org>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 96 01:43:54 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: COMMUNITY CONNEXION REFUSES TO CENSOR INTERNET SERVICES
Message-ID: <199601110938.BAA10567@infinity.c2.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


For Immediate Release - January 11, 1996
Contact: Sameer Parekh 510-601-9777x3

       COMMUNITY CONNEXION REFUSES TO CENSOR INTERNET SERVICES

Berkeley, CA - In an open letter sent today to the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, Community ConneXion, the Internet Privacy Provider, explicitly
stated its refusal to agree to their request to restrict access to
services based on the content of the web pages their customers may
implement using Community ConneXion services.

On Wednesday, January 10th, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a
request to Internet providers and universities to refuse to carry
messages that "promote racism, anti-Semitism, mayhem and violence."
Their target in the request was not Usenet, the discussion forums on
the Internet which were recently targeted for censorship by
CompuServe, but the World-Wide-Web, the area of the Internet which
allows anyone to serve their words and ideas to the nearly thirty
million people on the Internet.

Efforts are growing to regulate content on the Internet and restrict
freedom of expression. Community ConneXion is opposed to all forms of
censorship. In the letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Sameer
Parekh, President of Community ConneXion, described their position in
reply to the Center's request that Internet providers pledge to
restrict service, "Community ConneXion considers it our civic duty to
provide Internet access, services, and privacy to any individual or
group, no matter what their political or social agenda."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is asking Internet providers to restrict
access to individuals and groups who would use their services to
promote hateful ideas. "The answer to hateful speech is more speech,"
said Parekh, "Rather than attempting to ban hateful speech, which does
nothing to prevent the hate and the effects of hate in the long run,
human rights groups should devote their time and energies towards
positive activities, such as speaking out debunking the hate groups
and holocaust revisionists. Only by speaking out against the
hate-mongers can any progress be made. Trying to stop them from
speaking will only serve to encourage them."

The very same services that Community ConneXion refuses to censor may
be used by the persecuted groups who are harassed by the anti-Semites
and neo-Nazis to aid them to protect themselves from
persecution. "Using our services someone who may be afraid of the
neo-Nazis, perhaps because they live in a very intolerant town, may
set up web pages speaking out against the anti-Semites, but not reveal
their real name or address. In this way people can provide information
and speak out against the hate without fearing any repercussions. The
very same services which can help drive out hate are the very same
ones which the Simon Wiesenthal Center is asking Internet providers to
restrict."

Community ConneXion, founded in June of 1994, is the leading provider
of privacy on the Internet. They provide anonymous and pseudonymous
Internet access and web pages in addition to powerful web service,
virtual hosts, and web design consultation. Information is available
from their web pages at http://www.c2.org/.

Attachment: Open letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center
------------------------------------------------------------------------
			 Community ConneXion
			   3038A Mabel St.
			  Berkeley, CA 94702
			     510-601-9777
			  http://www.c2.org/

January 11, 1996
The Simon Wiesenthal Center
9760 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90035

To Whom it May Concern:
	This letter is in response to your call for Internet providers
to refuse to carry messages which "promote racism, anti-Semitism,
mayhem and violence." Community ConneXion, The Internet Privacy
Provider, explicitly refuses to take such action as requested by your
organization. I will, in this letter, explain the rationale behind our
decision.
	While the reasons to not censor Internet traffic are great, we
will only describe a few of them in order to explain our
decision. First, the best way to fight speech is with more
speech. Second, it violates the fundamentals upon this country was
founded, in particular the ideal of freedom of expression. Finally, we
believe that trying to restrict harmful speech, which, for example,
"conspires against democracy," does more damage to the cause of
democracy than allowing the hateful individuals and organizations to
speak in the first place.
	In order to fight the hateful speech to which your
organization objects, it is more productive to speak out against the
hate and the lies of the anti-Semites and neo-Nazis than to try to
prevent them from speaking. By preventing them from speaking, you are
giving them more allies, and more legitimacy than they would have if
you merely spoke out against them and debunked their words. If you
actually take proactive action towards debunking their lies, people
will understand that they are actually lying. By preventing them from
speaking, you are promoting the idea that they actually might have
something valuable to say.  Hateful action, of course, should be
prosecuted to the fullest extent permissible by law.
	Second, this country was founded on the ideal of freedom of
expression. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is
the first one on the list of the Bill of Rights. Restricting access to
freedom of expression to only people with acceptable viewpoints is not
true freedom of expression.
	Finally, and most important, restricting speech in order to
ostensibly protect democracy does more to damage democracy than to
help it. Censorship leads towards a more restrictive society, one
which grows ever more similar to the totalitarian government of the
Third Reich, which made the atrocities of the Holocaust possible. In
order to prevent such an atrocity from happening again, no government
must be allowed to gain the power over its citizens that was allowed
the Third Reich. By asking for restrictions on speech you are asking
for a return to the controls which gave the Third Reich its power.
	Therefore, we have taken a stance directly opposed to any and
all forms of censorship.  Community ConneXion considers it our civic
duty to provide Internet access, services, and privacy to any
individual or group, no matter what their political or social
agenda. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sameer Parekh
President, Community ConneXion