Many problems occur on the Internet today. In this technology age, someone on the World Wide Web can obtain illegal prescriptions, buy tobacco underage, buy and sell illegal guns, and perform many more hazardous actions. Hate group websites on the Internet are one setback that seems to cause severe problems. According to www.Hatewatch.org, of the almost thirteen million websites on the Internet, there are currently 450 to 500 "hard core" hate sites and numerous problematic sites on the Internet; other sources state there are about 800 "hate speech" sites. At the time of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, only one hate site was reported. The explosive growth of the World Wide Web caused an enormous development in hate sites, and this number of hate group websites continues to increase at a rapid rate. From just 1996 to 1997, a twenty percent increase occurred, and between 1997 and 1998, sites grew sixty percent. Of the almost four hundred seventy four hate sites, 100 were neo-Nazi, 42 Skinhead, 81 Christian Identity (a racist religion), 12 black separatist, and 112 a mixture of hate-based doctrines and principles. Cyberhate also focuses on other groups such as United States based groups, youth and women, marketing groups, international groups, and mayhem anarchy bombs. .
What constitutes a website as a true "hate group website"? A site is deemed to be a possible hate site if it "advocates violence against unreasonable hostility toward a person or group based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or disability." (www.hatewatch.org).
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These websites are dangerous for many simple reasons. The Internet is a widely used form of media so the distribution of hate group propaganda is no longer limited, but easily accessed. Before the Internet, hate group propaganda was limited to word of mouth and pamphlets. Now, with the technology of the World Wide Web, anyone who has access to the Internet has effortless entrance to these hate group websites.
