"These Holocaust deniers are very slick people"

In Los Angeles, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named for the famed Nazi hunter, has pressed hard for the shut-down of Internet sites that deny the Holocaust, both in the United States and abroad. But that is a slippery slope, warned Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union which fought the CDA [Communications Decency Act].

"Free speech rights are indivisible. If someone else's free speech rights can be taken away, so can yours," said Steinhardt, who told the audience he lost relatives in Nazi death camps. He described fears of the Internet as overblown — you must search for the bad stuff. "Kids are at greater risk in-line skating than when online."

The purpose of yesterday's sessions, co-sponsored by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education was told help students recognize disinformation and to steer them towards reliable sites so they won't be easily duped. "These Holocaust deniers are very slick people. They justify everything they say with facts and figures. These are not your old, familiar Ku Klux Klan people," explained Steven Some, commission chairman.