By Joey Gardiner, 31 August 2001 11:52
NEWS A Muslim AOL subscriber has sued the internet giant after he was subjected to racist abuse in an AOL chatroom.
The US user alleges his civil rights were violated by AOL's failure to take action on numerous complaints of racial abuse.
Forty-three year old Saad Noah from Crest Hill Illinois is taking the action on behalf of the many Muslim users of the "Koran" and "Beliefs Islam" chatrooms who he says have been subjected to harassment for years.
He said AOL has failed to bar offending participants from the chatrooms.
In a statement Noah's lawyer said the internet should not be exempt from US civil rights legislation that prohibits religious discrimination in public places.
AOL, which runs 14,000 chatrooms, said the case is completely without merit. A spokesman refused to comment to US newswires on the specifics of the case, but added AOL had zero tolerance of "hate speech" in any of its chatrooms.
The issue of legal responsibility for content on websites is still a thorny one even after ISP Demon finally conceded defeat to Lawrence Godfrey, a subscriber who was slandered on a Demon newsgroup.
For related news, see:
AOL slashes 1,200 jobs
http://www.silicon.com/a46
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