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Date: 1998-06-28

AOL/Zensur durch Mirrors abgeschmettert


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q/depesche 98.6.28.2
updating xx.x.xx.x

AOL/Zensur durch Mirrors abgeschmettert

Das Up/datum (siehe oben) stimmt so. Wir gebens zu, das haben wir verschlafen: AOL zensuriert auf
Druck aus Ägypten eine Site, die sich satirisch mit dem Koran auseinandersetzt. Inzwischen sind die
ersten Mirrors schon ans netz gegangen.

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http://byrden.com/suralikeit
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7143
http://www.freedomforum.org/technology/1998/6/26koran.asp
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6.26.98 When America Online shuttered a Web site that parodied the Koran yesterday, it was a
startling instance of the worldwide reach of Internet censorship. But the aftermath was perhaps even
more startling -- showing how hard it is to suppress a communication system that has
anti-suppression reflexes.

AOL shut down a customer's Koranic-parody site after protests from Egypt. But at least one identical
site immediately sprang to life.

Then still another site appeared, devoted to discussing the controversy -- and reproducing the
original site that AOL closed.

Some Muslims in Egypt said they were offended by the parody site because it contained language
similar to verses in the Koran, the holiest book in Islam.

"This is aggression on the human heritage and sacred values not only of Muslims but of all
humanity," said Ahmed Omar Hashem, president of al-Azhar University in Cairo, in an interview with
Reuters. Reuters also reported the university was not certain whether AOL was legally responsible
but was considering suing the company.

AOL refused to name the author or describe the material it found offensive, according to Reuters,
other than to claim the site was not "appropriate content." From Cairo, Ahmed Omar Hashem
characterized the parody as an unacceptably "frivolous" treatment of holy writings. Calls and
e-mails from free! to AOL were not returned.

But once identical sites were posted on other servers, everyone on Internet could read the parody
and judge for himself or herself.

The pressure from Egypt was not without precedent: AOL, CompuServe and other international Internet
publishers have been pressured by local and national governments to censor material that might
offensive to a few in one country.

In a widely noted case, images posted from U.S. computers led to the criminal conviction last month
of a CompuServe regional manager in a court in Germany. The prosecution appealed the conviction,
arguing it was unreasonable.

And even if parody, frivolous or not, is no longer "appropriate content" on AOL, parody of the Koran
may have been invited by the Koran itself, which says:

"And if you are in doubt as to that which We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter
like it and call on your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful." (Chapter 2, verse 23)

Another word for a chapter of the Koran is Sura. According to one report, the offending site's URL
was http://members.aol.com/SuraLikeIt.

relayed by
Adam Clayton Powell apowell@freedomforum.org

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TIP
Download free PGP 5.5.3i (Win95/NT & Mac) from Arge Daten
http://keyserver.ad.or.at/pgp/download/

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published on: 1998-06-28
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