"Nuremberg Files" Creator Sues Mindspring

Anti-abortion extremist Neal Horsley, whose "The Nuremberg Files" Web site included a virtual "hit list" of targeted individuals including abortion providers, security officers who protect abortion clinics, pro-choice activists, clinic owners, clinic workers, pro-choice judges and politicians, has sued Internet service provider Mindspring for $251 million.

Horsley claims that Mindspring illegally shut down his Web site in February in an act of censorship. "If telephone companies shut people's telephones down because of what they believe or because of what they were saying and they weren't breaking the law, then I'm sure the American people would understand why that has to be stopped," stated Horsley.

Mindspring pulled the plug on February 5, three days after a federal jury ruled that creators of "The Nuremberg Files" Web site and similar "un-wanted" posters featuring pictures of abortion providers violated the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act (FACE) and federal racketeering statutes by inciting violence against doctors and their patients. Plaintiffs were awarded over 107 million dollars in the case.

Mindspring spokesperson Ed Hansen explained that "The Nuremberg Files" Web site was removed because Horsely violated "one or more" of the company's appropriate use policies.

Horsely now hosts the site on his own server. The site continues to urge readers to send in abortion doctors' addresses, their license plate numbers, and the names of their children and still contains the famed "hit list," in which murdered doctors' names have been crossed out and wounded doctors are shaded in gray.

Past Stories:
"Judge Forbids Anti-Abortion Web Site and "Wanted" Posters
"The Nuremberg Files" Web Site Finds New Home
Mindspring Pulls Nuremberg Site
Federal Jury Finds "Un-wanted" Posters And "Nuremberg Files" To Be Threats, Not Free Speech
Jury: Web Site in Violation of FACE

Media Resources: Source: AP - June 10, 1999

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