Steadfast Response to Chicago Tribune Article

Today the Chicago Tribune will be printing an article listing us, Steadfast Networks, as a company that allows hate sites, to be hosted on our network. The article has already been posted online and can be seen here.

We strongly support free speech and the open exchange of ideas, whether we agree with them or not. But free speech does have limits, and reasonable people will disagree as to where exactly those limits are. As a company, Steadfast is against "hate speech" which we define as any speech that is abusive or threatening to a specific race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This speech can easily lead to violence against a group and often has the intent to prevent free speech through intimidation and threats.

While we are against hate speech, yes, we do still happen to host sites which have anti-Semitic or other anti-minority leanings. Our network is the home to hundreds of thousands of web sites and we do not actively police all the content on our network. Such policing is not feasible for a company of our size, so we ask you to help by reporting any sites employing hate speech to abuse@steadfast.net.

Additionally, we see some confusion between defamatory or offensive speech and hate speech. We will not shutdown our customers' speech because their views or ideas may be unpopular or offend you. While we disagree with many of the positions taken on web sites we host, we support their rights to freedom of speech. Now, if a site employs hate speech (being abusive or threatening to a specific race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation), incites violence, or violates any other laws, then it has crossed the line. At that point, we will cooperate with the courts and/or any law enforcement agencies and move towards ceasing service to the customer in question.

Overall, this is a complex issue, with many differences of opinion. As a global communications provider, we understand our responsibility to uphold the freedom of speech and free flow of ideas inherrent to being an American company. We are also a private enterprise that understand our responsibility towards limiting hate and violence. The ideals we believe in cannot be spread in a world of hate, threats, and violence. Help us stop hate speech and any other illegal activity on our network by reporting it to abuse@steadfast.net.

Note: I do appreciate Mr. Working's effort to contact me for a response and that he represented our stance in a mostly accurate manner, though I do wish he would have included more of the comments I had made to him. He was professional in how he treated this matter and I have the utmost respect for him as a journalist.