hate speech policies on its service while cracking down on speech by gay members.
CNET reports the American Civil Liberties Union, NationalGayLobby.org, and Hate Watch are saying the nation's largest online service provider recently required a gay member to remove certain language from his member profile - though AOL routinely ignores racist and anti-gay comments.
NationalGayLobby.org executive director Michael Romanello tells CNET "it seems to us" AOL monitors come down on homosexual men in particular "for member profiles that relate to sexual proclivities." And the San Francisco Chronicle says a homosexual AOL member complained to the ACLU's Fort Worth chapter that AOL asked him to take language out of his profile describing himself as a "submissive bottom".
AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato denies to CNET that the service enforces speech policies unevenly. "I think we try always to be even-handed and to strike a balance," he said. "Those who've [posted profiles with] hate speech have also been actioned."
Violating AOL speech codes can get a user's account terminated, but some critics say AOL does not go far enough policing many violations and overreacts to others. CNET says a survey by Internet consulting firm Wired Strategies turned up numerous un-enforced violations of the hate speech ban on AOL, including one member profile with the statement "all fags must die…AIDS cures queers."
Fort Worth ACLU president Frank Provosek tells CNET he received an AOL action letter about the previously-mentioned homosexual member profile, which included this notification: "The [deleted] screen name created/edited a profile that contained the following inappropriate content: 'Quote: 38 5-8 150 brown/blue stache smooth 7.5 cut submissive bottom.' AOL has deleted this profile from the Member Directory. Feel free to create a new profile that does not include this kind of objectionable content."
But D'Amato says AOL does not filter speech on its service actively, investigating only complaints about member profiles and shutting down offensive language when it becomes aware of any violation.
It is not as though AOL hasn't gone down this road before - the service admitted disclosing the member account of Naval officer Timothy McVeigh to a Naval investigator, which brought McVeigh's discharge for admitting homosexual conduct. McVeigh has since been reinstated.
"All we are asking is for AOL sit down with us or other people representing communities to explain its policies," Romanello says, "and why they are not apparently being employed even-handedly."
