Readers vote for free speech

Free speech must reign supreme.

That's the response readers gave to this week's NEWS.COM Poll, which asked whether online services should provide access to hate groups and extremist sites.

Readers said America Online had done the right thing when faced with this issue earlier this month. Under pressure from the Anti-Defamation League to take down a page that promoted the Ku Klux Klan, the country's largest online service decided not to take action against the site even though the company's Terms of Service would have permitted it to do so.

Should online services provide access to extremist sites?

Seventy-three percent of the 81 readers who participated in our unscientific poll said that online services should provide access to hate groups and other extremists sites. Many wrote that even though they disagreed with the extremist groups' views, they feel understanding what extremists believe is the best way to counter them.

"It really does come down to free speech," wrote reader Scott Advani. "Let them have their say, in their own words, and the public will see what wing-nut ideas most of these groups believe."

Most readers also said ISPs should continue to rely on the good judgment of Internet users, as well as filtering software, to protect against the influence of these sites. To turn to censorship instead is to buck the free spirit of the nation and of the Net.

But many also believe that while AOL should not censor extremist literature, it should not be required to provide access either. Many readers cited the fact that AOL is a private company and should be allowed to choose what pages it stores in its servers.

See the following page for readers' explanations of their votes.