Armchair Activist: Silence "Radio Islam"

(From site archives)

The following message is self-explanatory and requires your immediate assistance to put an end to one of the most vicious anti-Jewish sites on the Internet.

Dear Sirs,

I am member of a group of people fighting against what is called "Radio Islam." This began as a radio station in Stockholm, Sweden, broadcasting material of hatred against the Jewish people. The founder of Radio Islam is a Moroccan who came to Sweden in 1973 as a political refugee. Sweden gave him asylum, and the thanks given back to us from this individual was hatred against the Jewish part of our population. Rami was convicted and thrown in jail for six months for defaming the Jewish people, but that didn't stop him. Others took his place legally and it's an ongoing battle.

Rami soon discovered the possibilities that Internet gave him. He started a site with the same name as the radio station, "Radio Islam" (http://abbc.com). At first, this site was hosted by Swedish servers. He went ISP (Internet service provider) to ISP but was quickly thrown out when the server owners discovered who was behind and what material was offered.

So in summer of this year, Rami moved to a U.S. server, CLEVER.NET (http://home.clever.net), of Atlanta, Georgia. He now offers his hatred against the jewish people in several languages. This site used to contain a list of prominent Jews in Sweden, accusing named individuals of being homosexual, "foxes," criminals and the like.

We wrote to CLEVER.NET several times. They finally moved to remove the list of named Jews I refer to above. Everything else -- lists of Jewish convicted criminals, reference of Jewish genetic diseases, all the traditional fabricated "proof" to deny the Holocaust and so much more -- remains intact. A truly sickening site.

We made an e-mail denouncement to Atlanta Police Department of the antisemitic defamation housed on CLEVER.NET but have received no reaction whatsoever from there.

We tried to write about this in CLEVER.NET's discussion forum (http://home.clever.net - click Forums - anyone can register for entry) but we were immediately censored! You can see it for yourself, it is still there.

If you follow the link "Acceptable Use Policy Statement" on the CLEVER.NET you will find a statement of theirs on ABBC.COM. In case it is removed in the mean time, we repeat it here:

Friday, November 14, 1997

Statement Regarding ABBC.COM

Recently, we have received several complaints about ABBC.COM, a web site that we host, which has content that some regard as objectionable. It is the position of Clever Computers, Inc. (CCI) to host any content that a customer may provide, without validation for content, correctness, or usability, as long as the site complies with our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), found at http://faq.clever.net/clev_aup.htm.Specifically, in regard to General Conduct, we state in the AUP that:

Customers are prohibited from transmitting on or through any of CCI's services, any material that is, in CCI's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.

We do actively police our servers for illegal or prohibited acts or material and investigate any and all sites that are brought to our attention from outside sources as possible policy violators. However, since we host a total of more than 11,000 virtual and non-virtual domains from clients around the world, it is not possible to know the full content of every web site that we host. Clever does not enter into this or any similar situation lightly or without some regret, since we prefer to operate in the spirit of openness and equality which has made the Internet so popular.

As for this particular site, we are currently investigating its content. We have attempted to make contact with our customer via email to request a translation of parts of the site, since a large portion is not in English. We have placed a reasonably short time constraint on them, as this is a sensitive issue. We have also consulted local legal counsel and are attempting to contact the local representatives of the country from which the majority of the complaints are emanating.

Any opinions or viewpoints expressed by a customer on their web site are not necessarily shared by CCI, its management or its staff. Questions regarding the AUP should be directed to policy@clever.net. Any suspected AUP violations should be directed to abuse@clever.net.

After this lengthy "investigation" was conducted (we had thought a few minutes would be enough) we received the following e-mail:

Subject: ABBC.COM

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 14:23:55 -0500

This is to inform you that our investigation of ABBC.COM is finished. Let me first say that we at Clever Computers pride ourselves on the fact that we provide anyone who wishes to publish information on the Internet an opportunity to do so, as long as the site remains within our fair and reasonable guidelines. After lengthy deliberation on this subject, our determination is that although this site may be ignorant, bothersome or offensive to some, it is primarily sharing an opinion. Certainly with the list of names added to the site, it would seem to be aimed at providing an object on which to direct the feelings stirred by the rest of the site. Consequently, the decision we have made is that, as long as the list of names singling out individuals is removed and the rest of the site is reviewed such that any descriptions similar to those in the "encyclopedia" are removed, the site may remain active on our server. Please understand that the opinions expressed in the site are not necessarily those of Clever Computers, its management or staff. We apologize for any problems this situation may have caused. Of course, if there are any further suspected violations of our Acceptable Use Policy by this or any other customer, we will investigate and act accordingly. We also extend an offer to any individual or group that wishes to publish a rebuttal or differing opinion to contact us - you will be provided the same opportunity afforded all of our other customers, as long as our policies are adhered to. Thank you.

Bob Hendren, Vice President, Operations

Clever Computers, Inc., 8 Perimeter Park Dr. NW, Suite 111, Atlanta, GA 30341

P - (800)452-0750 F - (770)452-0108

http://clever.net

email:bobh@clever.net

To this we answered:

Mr. Bob Hendren,

We are in receipt of your announcement about the future of Radio Islam on clever.net. We note with pleasure that you have instructed Ahmed Rami to clean the site "such that any descriptions similar to those in the 'encyclopedia' are removed". The "list of names" have been removed but the site is still plagued with similar "descriptions" of Jewish people. Also, the whole site is constructed in such a manner that the legitimate question of Palestine is used as an excuse to attack and defame people just because of their origin.

As an example, Rami has listed major crimes or scandals where Jews have been involved. He had one page about "Jewish diseases" (seems to have been shut down) etc. Fair? Of course not - this is a subtile structure used to defame but try to avoid legal problems.

An ISP of course has no obligation to provide space to anyone. So it is up to the provider to shape the profile of its site. Ahmed Rami has been thrown out of several ISP in Sweden because ISP in this country do not want to house racists and antisemitists. In this country, or in Germany for example, he would never find an ISP. So, the ISP is not an innocent lamb who can sit back seeing the bucks rolling in with bothering. He HAS to choose. Some ISP throw out porno, most throw racism out. Those who accept the trash and hatred should of course be exposed so that people, before choosing ISP, or prolonging their present contract, know that paying to such an ISP is supporting the housing of e.g. racist defamation.

You state about Rami's site that "it is primarily sharing an opinion." Well, racism is an opinion, isn't it, but a very evil one, generally not accepted. I guess it would hard for you to house antinegro sites in English, because that would hurt you. After all, the black community is very big. In this case, after the lists of names being dropped, are mainly dead. Those who died in Nazi extermination camps. You will find a huge material on Radio Islam denying the Holocaust. That is legal I guess, but housing that, you ACTIVELY promote the lies defaming all the Nazi victims. It is a decision you make and an IMPORTANT one. In Germany you would probably be thrown into jail for housing holocaust denials. In the US nothing will happen except that people like us will VIGOROUSLY mobilize against you. That is moral obligation and our right as it is probably your right to house material that defames the Nazi victims.

Our aim will now be to hurt you financially and rally people in the U.S. to join us. You could have stood up for decency but you chose the buck. OK, so let us hope we can take that buck from you. Maybe then you will change your decision. This is not said in any threatening manner, or with the intention to be rude, quite the contrary. But we all have to act according to our own morals even if that brings us into involuntary conflicts.

Finally, please rest assured that not only your site has been singled out for our future campaigns. There are some other similar sites in the Swedish language in the U.S. and we will treat them equally.

We stand up for an Internet without any censorship. That is precisely one of the reasons we act. If the ISPs, like you, do not colaborate to keep Internet decent, we, the surfing community, has to do it. Otherwise states will soon use material like the one you are housing as an excuse to clamp down on the Internet freedom. With tragic consequences.

Haakan Gustavsson

We received an offer for free space on CLEVER.NET for rebuttal. We have accepted and will proceed very soon. This is where we stand today. We contact you at the JDL because you are combattants and we need your help.

We urge everybody to to write to Radio Islam, info@abbc.com, and tell Ahmed Rami and the other maniacs what you think about their site. If you flood them with mail, so much the better.Write to bobh@clever.net (Vice President) and abuse@clever.net and tell them what you feel about their decision to house material defaming the Jewish people on his site. Make him understand that a boycott will be set in motion (that is our intention) if the material of hatred against Jews is not removed from their server.

Feel free to publish this entire letter if that suits you.

Thank You.

Sincerely yours,

Haakan Gustavsson

haakan@col.se

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