鈥淭he lion and the calf shall lie down together鈥攂ut the calf won鈥檛 get
much sleep,鈥� said Woody Allen, reflecting on the curious nature of cooperation
between folks who, perhaps, should know better. Netropolitan was reminded of
Allen鈥檚 words last week and realised into the bargain what a truly strange place
the Internet is becoming. Such is the single-mindedness of those who believe in
absolute free speech that some are now willing to host pages they find
repellent.
The webmasters of an anti-abortion website were recently fined $100
million by a court in Portland, Oregon, for inciting anti-abortionists to attack
those who work in abortion clinics. Some doctors have been killed. The site
listed more than 200 names and addresses, with the names greyed out if they were
injured or struck through if a 鈥渇atality鈥� had occurred.
The site owner denied that the list was an act of incitement to violence,
but the court thought otherwise. You can read the National Organisation for
Women鈥檚 reaction to the judgment at www.now.org/press/02-99/02-02-99.html. As a
result of the court鈥檚 action, the site鈥檚 host service provider claimed the
site鈥檚 backers had violated their terms of service. And the massive fine has
scared off any other would-be site hosts in the US.
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Now a Dutch free speech activist has decided to re-host the website even
though she strongly disagrees with its aims. The new site host describes herself
as a 鈥渁 left-wing, atheist . . . pro-abortion, bisexual, free speech
advocate鈥濃�攁nd says she plans to embarrass the creators of the offending
website while at the same time hosting their site in the interests of free
speech: the re-hosted lists on the site have been amended to include some
anti-abortion activists. 鈥淒o not trust the names and addresses you find here,
and do not use violence against the people listed here,鈥� warns the new website.
鈥淵ou may end up shooting your own affiliates.鈥�
