From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 8/16/2007 10:43 AM
Thursday, August 16, 2007

Russia: Should Extremist Content On Internet Be Governed?

By Claire Bigg and Salome Asatiani

Russia -- Internet video of a Russian organization calling itself National Socialism/White Power shows two men kneeling in front of a Nazi flag with their arms and legs tied up, 14Aug2007
A grisly video posted to ultranationalist websites in Russia has sparked intense debate over whether extremist content on the Internet should be governed (file photo)
(TASS)
August 16, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- This week's posting of a grisly video purporting to show Russian neo-Nazis brutally killing a Tajik and a Daghestani has raised questions about the role of the Internet in disseminating extremist information.





The footage has fuelled intense debate on Russian-language Internet chat rooms and blogs.

The video shows two men, bound and kneeling on the ground in a forest, a large swastika flag hanging behind them. A third man then beheads one of the captives. The second captive is shot in the head. Two masked men raise their arms in a Nazi salute.

A number of Internet users have expressed horror at the video and called for more control over the Internet.

Oleg Panfilov, the director of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, says restrictions on Internet content could help curb the spread of nationalist ideology. But he says he is not in favor of such restrictions in Russia.

"You don't need to ban air conditioning or ice creams to prevent people from catching a cold," Panfilov says. "Authorities can happily impose restrictions on the Internet, but they will outlaw everything connected to political opposition activists. Problems regularly arise with websites that post material from the [opposition groups] Other Russia and the National Bolshevik Party. But nothing is done to ban Nazi or fascist ideas."

Racial Attacks On The Rise