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Accuse World's Largest Provider of Prejudiced Practices Trace Targeting Gay User Profiles & Ignoring Hate Speech |
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Compiled By GayToday
San Francisco— Activists protested America Online's selective monitoring
of gay user profiles Monday by burning AOL disks in front of City Hall.
The action was meant to send a message to the huge Internet provider, said
participants, who chanted "Burn, baby! Burn!"
According to John Aravosis of Wired Strategies, "a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas issued a public letter last week questioning whether AOL is selectively targeting gay members' user profiles, while leaving much less tame heterosexual profiles on the system. "According to the ACLU representative, a gay subscriber to AOL received a terms of service violation in his AOL record (a record which can be subpoenaed in a court of law) because the online service found 'objectionable' language he used to describe himself in the profile." The user described himself in his profile, reportedly, as a 'submissive bottom'.
He noted: "A check of AOL turned up hundreds of presumably heterosexual member profiles that disparaged 'fags,' and even several that seem to advocate the murder of gays, including one that spoke of the need to remove gay men's testicles. "A further review turned up a disturbing number of anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-Black, anti- Latino and anti-Asian profiles as well, including member names such as 'Aldolf Hitler' and 'Fry the Hebes', and quotes such as 'Hobbies: killing blacks, Jews, and Asians,' 'A good black man is a dead black man," and 'Hobbies: killing Christians, burning crosses.' "While AOL's Terms of Service strictly forbid hate speech in member profiles," continued Aravosis, "the online service said repeatedly this week that it does not pre-screen member profile content, and will only enforce its anti-hate policy if a member complains about a specific profile." A "gay journalist," reported Aravosis, "found this to be untrue. AOL automatically filters new member profiles and blocks subscribers from creating a profile containing the words 'nigger' or 'kike.' No such restrictions appear to apply to profiles containing anti-gay epithets." Aravosis says he has not yet made up his own mind as to "whether AOL should filter out words such as 'fag" or 'dyke,' " But Wired Strategies' director believes that the real issue is that "once again America Online is treating 'that community' (as AOL's spokesman referred to us twice yesterday) differently than it treats other minorities." Aravosis asks: "Remember AOL's thesaurus that called gays pedophiles?" "And worse," he charges, "when confronted with horrific hate on its system (in clear violation of its own terms of service), AOL can't even tell us the truth about their policies. "Many in the gay community will tell you that when we violate AOL's terms of service, there's no hesitation in AOL enforcing its policies. "Is there a double-standard?" For more information, and to view the anti-gay and anti-Jewish AOL profiles, visit www.wiredstrategies.com/profile.htm |
