HateWatch Press Release: Activism vs Hacktivism

[Art McGee <amcgee@igc.org>]

[: hacktivism :]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 5 Sep 1999 01:22:36 -0000
From: HateWatch Updates <info@hatewatch.org>
Subject: HateWatch Press Release

HateWatch Updates - http://hatewatch.org

HateWatch Press Release: Activism vs Hacktivism

On September 4, 1999 the Ku Klux Klan web site at www.kkk.com was
vandalized. The entire KKK web site was replaced with the contents of the
HateWatch web site. HateWatch has not nor ever will condone such behavior.
Not only is this type of action illegal but it has the effect of calling
into question the legitimacy of the online civil rights movement as a
whole. In the strongest possible terms, HateWatch condemns this type of
"hacktivism" against the Ku Klux Klan web site or any web site, regardless
of the rationale. 

This week, David Goldman founder and Director of HateWatch was interviewed
for an article in the Village Voice concerning the recent hacking of the
anti-gay web site godhatesfags.com. Mr. Goldman stated that hacking hate
sites, "...as a tactic to be used by the civil rights community, is a
misguided one. Limiting someone's speech...even temporarily takes away one
of the greatest advantages the civil rights community has on the Web:
exposing bigots using their own words." 

Rather than defacing racist web sites which only hurt the cause, HateWatch
invites those that are interested to volunteer at HateWatch or another
similar organization. Education and participation, not acts of vandalism,
will make the web a more tolerant community. 


HateWatch (www.hatewatch.org), founded in 1996, is a nonprofit
organization that combats the growing and evolving threat of online
bigotry. 

-30-

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