North American Network Operators Group
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Re: On Internet and social responsibility

  • From: David Charlap
  • Date: Mon Sep 17 15:23:38 2001 
David Schwartz wrote:
> 
> Because if American companies want to spread the speech of foreign
> terrorists, that's their right. The government of the United States
> should not be prosecuting them for the content of their speech.

Without stating an opinon on whether or not it is right to shutdown
these sites, let me point out two things that you seem to be forgetting:

1: The courts have repeatedly held that incite to riot is not a form
   of protected speech.  A logical inference here is that incite to
   war is not protected either.

2: The US Constitution does not guarantee the rights of non-citizens
   residing in foreign nations.  Even if they buy a web page from a
   US hosting service.

-- David