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NBC News Transcripts May 19, 1999, Wednesday

SHOW: TODAY (7:00 AM ET)

May 19, 1999, Wednesday

LENGTH: 972 words

HEADLINE: DAVID KACZYNSKI AND MARSHA KIGHT DISCUSS THEIR LOBBY TO SHUT DOWN INTERNET SITES THAT PROMOTE VIOLENCE AND DEMONSTRATE HOW TO BUILD EXPLOSIVES

ANCHORS: KATIE COURIC

BODY:

KATIE COURIC, co-host: The recent tragedy at Columbine High School has heightened awareness of internet Web sites that not only promote violence, but demonstrate how to actually build explosives. The advocacy group, Center for the Community Interest, is calling on Internet service providers like AOL and MSN to voluntarily shut down these sites. They've got two powerful lobbyists, David Kaczynski, who turned in his brother, Ted, who was known as the Unabomber, and Marsha Kight, whose daughter, Frankie, was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Nice to see you both. Thanks so much for coming by this morning. How did you two join forces? How did this come about?

Mr. DAVID KACZYNSKI (Brother of Unabomber): Well, actually, we were contacted by the Center for Community Interest. But Marsha and I met earlier at an anti-violence conference in Connecticut and discussed issues like this there.

COURIC: And when you were contacted, you said, 'Marsha Kight needs to be involved in this,' right, David?

Mr. KACZYNSKI: I certainly did.

COURIC: So what is the goal? What exactly--well, before we actually talk about that, how easy is it to access this kind of material on the Internet, Marsha? I know that you have seen a number of sites or you have tried to. Tell me what you found.

Ms. MARSHA KIGHT ("Families and Survivors United"): With a click of the mouse, it will bring up news groups that are billboards on how to build weapons of mass destruction. It's very easy to enter those Web sites and get the information. Just with a look the other day there were three that I looked at, "Chaos," "How to Nuke the World," and "How to Make Homemade Weapons."

COURIC: So what are you asking for? What would you like companies to do?

Ms. KIGHT: To take a moral responsibility and remove these kind of billboards from off the Net. I think we all need to work together to make this world a safer society for all our children. And let corporate America take the lead and take a positive role in doing this very thing, is to remove these billboards that promote mass murder.

COURIC: Why do you think this is so important, David?

Mr. KACZYNSKI: You know, I think we've seen an increasing climate of violence in this country. Marsha and I got our own personal wake-up calls sometime ago about how horrible violence is, and especially bomb violence. I think it's our hope that the--the terrible tragedy out in Colorado would be a wake-up call for the nation and would encourage businesspeople, the companies that own--have Internet access and sell Internet access to assume some social responsibility. I would compare it to owning billboards. If I had several billboards, and rented space on those billboards and someone came to me and said--you know, they wanted to put up instructions on making a bomb or advocating murder and mayhem, I would really have two choices at that point. One choice would be to say, 'Hey, it's just my billboard, put whatever you want up there.' The other choice would be to say, 'Hey, I don't want to be a party to this. I want to take some leadership and--and take a stand against violence.'

COURIC: Internet services, though, might compare it to the telephone. They say that if someone instructs someone else on how to stab an individual or kill an individual over the phone, you can't sue the phone company. They raise all sorts of issues about the fact that they may be the gateway provider for Internet services, but they cannot police everything on the World Wide Web or things that are on individuals' home pages. And furthermore, they say it's a slippery slope in terms of censorship. Once you start, you know, outlawing or banning certain materials on the Internet, you ban others. Also logistically, I know they tried to keep kids away from some porn sites by using the word breast, and it precluded people from getting information on breast cancer. They tried bomb, and they couldn't get information on the atomic bomb. So there are a lot of issues here, according to these Internet services. What's your response to some of their concerns?

Mr. KACZYNSKI: Well, my first answer would be that I don't think the telephone analogy is a good one. We're not talking about monitoring private communications, e-mail between individuals. I think the analogy of a billboard is a much better one. This is--these are public, they're broadcast to anyone who can manage to access them, including children. I think that some of this is buck passing. I think there's a chance to exercise some leadership here. I'm not the person to ask about the--the logistics of the technology, but I think many citizens would be willing to help them out. And I think if they thought the companies would respond and be helpful, I think there would be lots of people that would say, 'Hey, there are instructions for making a bomb on such-and-such Web site, would you please remove it or take a look at it.'

COURIC: Marsha, what do you think of some of the--the comments or protests that have been made along these lines by Internet companies?

Ms. KIGHT: You know, legally, they probably wouldn't be held accountable. But morally, they are accountable to remove these kind of materials from the Net. They could use a search engine that would red flag these sites and--and pull them. It would be just like asking an unwanted guest in your home to leave. I think there's a simple solution.

COURIC: Are you hoping to meet with representatives of these companies?

Ms. KIGHT: Well, I'd be more than open to sit down and talk with them.

Mr. KACZYNSKI: I'd certainly be open to that, sure.

Ms. KIGHT: And we're hoping that people will write letters to the service providers and say, 'Let's--let's take a pro-active role and say, these things matter.' You know, I'm open to receive e-mail, and I hope Yahoo! and Microsoft and all the other Internet providers are--I hope people will write to them and--and address these concerns on a personal level.

COURIC: Marsha Kight and David Kaczynski. Thank you both for coming in this morning. Nice to see you.

Mr. KACZYNSKI: Thanks so much.

Ms. KIGHT: Thank you.

COURIC: Appreciate it.

Up next, we'll tell you how to figure out your chances of living to be 100, and being mentioned on Willard Scott. And still to come this morning, actor Tom Selleck talks about his new movie. It's called "The Love Letter." That's all after these messages.