Article Added On: February 14, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Title: Six websites fomenting hatred and encouraging suicide bombing are pulled
Author: TERRI THEODORE
Publication: CP
Publication Date: January 01, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Faith Groups: Jewish
Themes: other

Abstract: Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Toronto-based centre said six Web sites that fomented hatred against Jews or advocated terrorism or suicide-bombing have been pulled by the host in Kelowna, B.C., and an Investigation is going on.

February 14, 2005

VANCOUVER (CP) - Canadian Internet providers are diligent about weeding out hate sites but the organizations behind them find other means to get their hate-mongering online, a spokesman for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said Monday.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Toronto-based centre said six sites that fomented hatred against Jews or advocated terrorism or suicide-bombing have been pulled by the host in Kelowna, B.C.

The Wiesenthal centre regularly monitors websites and advises servers about ones that appear to breach Canada's hate or anti-terrorist legislation.

Cooper acknowledged it was unusual to find six sites all on a hosting company based in Kelowna.

"It's particularly unusual because Canadian Internet providers have done perhaps . . . the best job in the last six or seven years of self-policing," he said. "We always hold up the Canadian industry as an example to how companies around the globe can put in place their own voluntary rules."

The six sites taken down included one that promoted and celebrated suicide bombers and another that denigrated the Jewish religion.

Cooper acknowledged that policing the web for hatred is a never-ending task.

"As the Internet has no borders, we are finding more and more complex approaches by those who are supporting terrorists in order to get their websites . . . out."

He said that is not the fault of the Canadian companies, who cannot possibly monitor regularly the vast array of sites.

"What it really means is this is a wakeup call, not only to the companies who cannot expect to become expert on hate groups and terrorist organizations. They really have to be in the mode of responding as quickly as this particular company did."

Randall Robinson, the web services manager with RackForce Hosting Inc. in Kelowna, said his company had been working with the RCMP already regarding the hate sites provider.

He declined to give the name of the provider but explained that his company is not responsible and had no knowledge of the hate sites until they were pointed out.

"We're a distribution outlet, there are other people, middlemen, who sell the site service," said Robinson. "We provide a hosting business. We have no contract with the end user."

Robinson said his company works with the RCMP's integrated technical crime unit and Staff Sgt. Dan Howard, who was not available Monday to comment.

RackForce has about 80,000 websites on its server.

"It's not possible to go through all those sites," Robinson said. "It's impossible to police that. Even if we did, who makes the decision on what should or should not be on that site?"

Robinson confirmed what Cooper said - that these sites can be pulled and appear elsewhere not long after.

"The vast majority of these sites are hosted by U.S. companies," he said.

Robinson doesn't know if the provider was aware of the content of the six sites that RackForce hosted.

"This hosting provider may have known that these were terrorists sites. We unplugged him. We didn't want his business."

Cooper doesn't know why the six sites all appeared on a Kelowna-based server.

"It's very difficult to say why did they come after a web server in B.C. Those who are trying to promote terrorism are going to look far and wide for the kind of addresses that one would assume is very far from any kind of confrontation.

"We just have to follow the rats wherever the cheese leads and in this particular case it led to British Columbia."

Original article