I write for Time-Warner's "Netly News", and several other venues. (Upside, Internet World, Internet Underground, Suck, and an 8000-member mailing list watchdogging America Online.) I'm trying to figure out what's going on with the suppresion of speech about sex--and speech in general--at AOL--and I need to get a comment from you.
I remember when your web page was removed from AOL--and I know you've spoken out on the need for more openness about sexuality. Would you have anything to say about this latest incident--why AOL removed your page, but not a page recruiting for the Ku Klux Klan?
The Klan page is at http://members.aol.com/realmoftex -- and AOL's been facing controvery for it since the story broke two weeks ago.
http://www.wired.com/news/topframe/2824.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-03/31/011L-033197-idx.html
http://www.newshare.com:9999/297/297-2.html (I wrote this one.)
An AOL spokesperson told C|Net, "we have no editorial control of the Web"--and the Klan site remains. Yet your page was removed...
BTW, a correspondence between DrSuzyB@aol.com and Lexie Hanes was posted to Usenet. http://www.wco.com/~destiny/suzylet.htm has the copy I received--can you verify its authenticity?
David Cassel
The Netly News, Upside, HotWired's Surf Central, Internet Underground, Internet World, The Net, The AOL List, "AOL Watch"
And my response:
Subject: No to Love-Making & Yes to Hate-Mongering on AOL
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997
To: David Cassel
From: Dr Susan Block
Once again, AOL has proven itself to be the AsshOLe of the Internet. Last year, AOL shut down my award-winning sex educational website because of its discussion of "genitalia," "sexual acts" and "words such as ‘horny'." Yet now it cites the First Amendment to defend maintaining a website for the Ku Klux Klan. Why am I not surprised? It is often the bigots and hate-mongers among us who are the biggest anti-sex maniacs. So it was in Nazi Germany which closed the sexology institutes before it opened the concentration camps; so it is here and now on AOL. And they're all "just following orders."
Well, at least now we're getting to know what's OK and what's not OK on AOL. It's OK to be rascist on AOL, but it's not OK to be sexual. It's OK to give recipes for hate, but it's most certainly not OK to describe acts of love. Sex education is a no-no, but teaching bigotry is just fine. I guess Steve Case would rather wear his sheets than make love between them.
But please don't misunderstand me. Though I despise what hate-groups like the KKK say, I defend their right to say it, and AOL's right to keep them on-line. They have no right to lynch or shoot or hurt anybody, but they have a right to speak, to write, to publish. We all do.
So why am I, a sex educator, denied my right to speak on America On-Line, while the KKK's right is preserved? AOL is a virtual city of eight million residents. That's eight million stories. Eight million voices. How dare Steve Case and his administrative "generals" run this major American metropolis like a police state? How dare he pick and chose, according to his (obviously rather questionable) taste, which voices should and should not be permitted to speak?
Subject: "Hackers Destroy KKK Site on AOL"
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997
To: David Cassel
From: Dr Susan BlockTwo wrongs don't make a right, and two fascists don't make us free.
Steve Case may be a tasteless, racist, anti-sex cyberfascist when he shuts down sexually oriented sites like mine, and permits sites like the KKK to exist on AOL. But the hackers who tricked AOL into removing the KKK page are nothing but thugs.
Freedom to express and exchange ideas is essential in cyberspace. But we must never support or tolerate the destruction of person or property.
As a Jew and a sex maven, I hate the KKK more than most, and it pains me deeply that Steve Case allows it on AOL, but shuts me down. Though as I said before, it doesn't surprise me since it is often the bigots and hate-mongers among us who are the biggest anti-sex maniacs.
But the thugs who destroyed the KKK site are acting as self-appointed censors. Censorship, whether it comes from Steve Case or hackers, is a cancer in cyberspace. It drains the brains of the Internet.
If you would like to discuss this issue with Dr. Block, call in Saturday April 12, 1997 to discuss this topic: 213.883.1950 We will begin broadcasting at 10:30pm PST, and you can tune in with Real Audio.
-B A C K-
