by Charles Levendosky

About the author: Charles Levendosky is the editorial page editor and a syndicated columnist for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming.

Another free speech battle has begun to shape up. This one isn’t about sex; it’s about hate speech. It pits those who want to prohibit hatemongering on the Internet against those who believe that the First Amendment must protect even that speech—no matter how despicable.

Hate speech on the Internet has grown rapidly—through websites, email, bulletin boards and chat rooms—according to a study published by the Anti- Defamation League last year. The ADL monitors the Internet looking for anti- Semitic speech propagated by neo-Nazi, white supremacist groups. In the study, “High-Tech Hate: Extremist Use of the Internet,” the ADL notes...