Return of the Living Zundel, from The Netly News

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/editorial/0,1012,1561,00.html

The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/)
November 6, 1997

Return of the Living Zundel
by Chris Stamper (cstamper@pathfinder.com)

        Does Ernst Zundel have the right to deny the Holocaust and brag
   about it on the Net? In the U.S. the answer is unequivocally yes. But
   in Canada, where Zundel resides, the Human Rights Commission has been
   holding hearings on whether the "Zundelsite" violates the country's
   hate speech laws. If Zundel loses the case, he'll be asked to pay
   damages and take any offending articles off the web site.

        "A lot of people think this case is about censoring the Net,"
   said Bernie Farber, national director of community relations for the
   Canadian Jewish Congress. "It isn't. It's about a Canadian violating
   Canadian law. In Canada and in every other Western democracy but the
   U.S., there are limits to free speech and one of those points is
   vilification. I should feel I have as much right to get on the Net and
   not feel demeaned because I'm a part of a particular group."

        A simple enough concept, except that the Canadian tribunal has no
   explicit jurisdiction over the Internet. However, it can regulate the
   phone system, and if the commission can equate Zundel's modems with
   answering machines and voice mail, it could set a precedent for
   regulating speech on the Net.

        Zundel claims that the whole case is simply an attempt by the
   commission to expand its powers into the realm of cyberspace. But then
   Zundel also claims that Hitler maintained a secret UFO base in
   Antarctica.

        The only certain truth about Zundel's case is that he's basking
   in free publicity as a result of the flap. "I was a nobody before they
   started hounding me," he told The Netly News. "Now everyone spells my
   name right. Every Canadian knows I think the Holocaust is a racket."

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