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| ACCESS DENIED? | |
 April 29, 1999 
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The school shootings in Littleton, CO, have led to a closer look at hateful messages on the Internet and violent video games. Some are calling for tighter regulation of the messages that appear in cyberspace. After this background report, Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the issue with a panel of experts. |
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BETTY ANN BOWSER: It's easy. Turn on a computer, go on the Internet, and in a matter of minutes, anyone can visit a site that will tell them how to build a bomb. This page explains how to make a fertilizer bomb like the
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And these are excerpts from Harris' Web page, which the Washington Post published today. We have deleted the frequent obscenities. Under the label "Society," Harris stated: "I live in Denver and … I would like to kill almost all of its residents … people with their rich, snobby attitude, thinking they are all high and mighty…" Then under another label, "Philosophy," Harris wrote: "I am the law and if you don't like it, you die. If I don't like you, or I don't like what you want me to do, you die… I'll just go to some downtown area in some big… city and blow up and shoot everything I can." The Post obtained the Web site from the Randy Brown family of Littleton, whose son, Brooks, was once a friend of Harris's. Fearing Harris might be dangerous, the Browns looked up his Web page to find Brooks was a target. He spoke with "Good Morning America."
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Authorities in Littleton say not only did Harris
say threatening things on his Web site, he and Klebold spent endless
hours on the Internet playing games like this one, called "Quake."
Players can annihilate imaginary armed soldiers; listen to them groan
as they are reduced to a pile of flesh and blood while flies swarm |
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one used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City; on another
site: How to make pipe bombs, like those concocted by Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold in Littleton, Colorado. And this Web site is clearly aimed
at teenagers, asking them, "Do you hate school?" then suggesting
school disruptions by putting a smoke grenade in student lockers. 
There
are also easily accessible hate sites promoting the ideals of Hitler,
white pride, and the Aryan nation. These are all the kinds of Web sites
authorities in Colorado say Harris and Klebold visited during the many
hours they apparently spent on the Internet. 
This
was Eric Harris' membership profile on the Internet service provider
America Online. Under hobbies, the 18-year-old said he loved to play
the video game "Doom," and under personal quotes he entered,
"Shut up and shoot it," and later, "KILL EM AALLLL."
BROOKS
BROWN: It had "Ten Things I Hate Most," and my name was at
the list, the top of the list, saying how he would pay people to kill
me; he wanted me dead. The entire Web site was dedicated to how he was
going to kill the entire state of Colorado. 
over
a body close by. Although "Quake" and Harris' favorite game,
"Doom," can still be downloaded, America Online closed Harris'
account and Web site at 11PM last Tuesday night after the shootings,
and police have seized his computer as they investigate why two teenage
boys went to Columbine High School last week and murdered 13 people,
then killed themselves.