Czech watchdog to monitor hate speech

Grant to go toward scanning Web sites for racist online activity

The Czech Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog, is calling on Internet host companies here and in the United States to remove Czech neo-Nazi Web sites that promote racist views.

A growing number of Czech-language Internet pages promote discrimination and racism, according to the nonprofit group, which recently received a 50,000 euro ($69,000/1.4 million Kč) grant from the European Economic Association to monitor such sites for discriminatory content.

In addition, Czech Helsinki Committee workers will ask Internet host companies to develop a common code of conduct to govern such sites, said František Valeš, a lawyer with the group.

One apparent neo-Nazi site calls for a den rasy, or “day of race.” A blog on the National Idea Web site rallies against feminism, calling it a “dead-end street.” An article on the Národní čest, or “national honor,” site claims that “nothing but the nation” has a “right to exist.”

Valeš said the sites are disturbing, but not illegal.

“They do not openly say that only white Czechs have a right to exist,” Valeš said. “It’s hidden between the lines.”

Unregulated Web

People found guilty of racially motivated crimes can be sentenced up to two years in jail, said Zuzana Kuncová, a spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry. Such crimes include speaking, writing or behaving in such a way as to degrade, intimidate or incite violence or prejudice against a person or a group of people based on their nationality, language, race, religion or class, Kuncová said.

The law mentions groups using TV, press, movies and radio — but not the Internet — to spread their messages.

And since corporations don’t have the same legal liability as individuals do under the national law on hate crimes, Internet host companies would be prosecuted administratively, meaning they would probably receive a fine if found guilty, she said. Kuncová did not specify a fine amount.

Miroslav Novotný, who works on the Autonomní nacionalisté Web site, said his group is aware of the laws and “we try to provoke as little as possible.” The Autonomní nacionalisté site name was provided by the Czech Helsinki Committee as one being monitored.

“No nationalistic or fascist ideologies are promoted on the site. You won’t find any oaths to the Third Reich or similar material, but only reports and remarks about the current situation,” Novotný said. “Everything is simply uncensored information, which no one might like, but censorship and the breaching of freedom of speech are unacceptable.”

At Národní korporativismus, another site being monitored by the rights group, there is discussion about “minorities,” although no particular group is mentioned.

“We respect the laws of our nation,” said Jiří Petřivalský, who is affiliated with the site. “We have never been accused of any [racist] statements, whether it be the spoken word or those published on our Web site.”

An estimated 7,000 right- and left-wing extremists belong to hate groups across the country, according to Petr Vorlíček, an Interior Ministry spokesman. While the numbers are constantly changing, officials believe about 600 people are involved in neo-Nazi activity.

Some Czech neo-Nazi sites are posted with U.S. Web providers. Since people who work at U.S. Internet service providers do not usually speak Czech, they may not be aware of inflammatory content, Valeš said.

Free speech issues

In general, Web content in the United States is protected as free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, large Internet companies such as eBay and Google have in the past taken steps to remove offensive sites, including ones that sold Nazi memorabilia.

Steadfast Networks, an Internet provider in Chicago that hosts a site being monitored by the Czech Helsinki Committee, said it does not make judgments about content.

“If you can find any content that is illegal or in violation of trademark or copyright, you can submit appropriate paperwork to have it removed,” Kevin Stange, a spokesman for the site, said in an e-mail response to a question about monitoring such sites.

If Czech Web providers don’t comply with the committee’s requests, the watchdog group is ready to take cases to court, Valeš said, even though it is often hard to pin down a site’s creator or creators.

“Once charges are pressed, the sites do a disappearing act and their content is moved onto a new domain,” Valeš said.

In April, 27 European Union countries agreed to proposed new rules to combat racism and hate crimes, after six years of negotiation. The rules include jail sentences of up to three years for those who deny or trivialize genocides such as the mass killing of Jews during World War II.

Individual parliaments must still vet the rules, however. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Denmark were reluctant to agree to such EU laws, feeling they could supersede their own laws that guarantee freedom of expression.

Prague Post