Cyber Terror and Civil Liberties

We have the First Amendment in this country, so our internet has become a refuge, not only for people of goodwill who have been persecuted abroad, but also for scoundrels and terrorists. The Tribune covers the Nazi and terrorist sites that have sprung up here:

Little study has been done on the extent to which the Web inspires real-world crime, but Brian Marcus, director of Internet monitoring with the Anti-Defamation League in New York, said cyber hate motivated Benjamin Smith, a Wilmette man who shot his way across Illinois and Indiana in 1999.

He targeted blacks, Jews and Asians, killing two people and wounding nine before committing suicide.

"[Smith] even said in an interview that it was through the Internet that he discovered the World Church of the Creator," Marcus said, referring to an Illinois group now called the Creativity Movement. "And then in July 1999 he goes on a real-world, multistate killing spree."

And Democrats, supposedly concerned about civil liberties, don't even want our government to monitor these sites, which we know can incite violence. What about the civil liberties of ordinary citizens who are preyed on by evil people?

We need a balance here. The First Amendment, by all means, but monitor those who advocate violence.

UPDATE: Related news via CNN:

The Times of London reported Monday that Auvinen and Cossey met via the social-networking Web site MySpace, where members have set up two groups dedicated to the memory of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold -- the perpetrators of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

The newspaper also reported that Auvinen had left postings on the MySpace pages.

Auvinen, 18, fatally shot three women and five boys before turning his gun on himself last week.

And this, from LGF. In some cases, our media shuns these groups in response to public protests, but others freely circulate filth (emphasis mine):

The media wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and the global jihad, Al Jazeera, has been unable to get many US cable providers to carry their sanitized (but still on message) English version. As we’ve noted several times, the lack of interest and the outrage and protests when providers do try to carry Al Jazeera have driven the Islamist channel to find other avenues to infiltrate, such as the jihad-friendly YouTube where they have their own special sponsored channel.

All along, Al Jazeera has been counting on America’s short attention span, knowing that quiet persistence would eventually get their nose into the tent. Now they’re making their next big move, enlisting the aid of the New York Times and Virginia Democrat Jim Moran: Lack of Al Jazeera Cable Reach in U.S. = ‘Neo-McCarthyism’.

Democrats defend the free speech of jihad promoters, who deny free speech in their own countries. Fine. But let's recognize that common sense monitoring here is not McCarthyist. Our law enforcement is entrusted with protecting our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Monitoring may save the lives of students and people who just go to work on a sunny Tuesday morning, little knowing it would be for the last time.

Related posts: Chicago Shoppers on AQ List?, Don't Donate to HLF Yet, Muslim Brotherhood Terror Takeover