Britain's ban of Savage decried by detractors FREE SPEECH

** FILE ** In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2007 file photo, radio talk show host Michael Savage poses with his dog Teddy in Tiburon, Calif. Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday July 21, 2008 he was trying to "boldly awaken" parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed. (AP Photo/John Storey) less ** FILE ** In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2007 file photo, radio talk show host Michael Savage poses with his dog Teddy in Tiburon, Calif. Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with ... more Photo: John Storey, AP Photo: John Storey, AP Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Britain's ban of Savage decried by detractors 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Conservative talk show host Michael Savage's commentary has offended groups from parents of autistic kids to Muslim leaders.

But the San Francisco-based syndicated talker, who made a "name and shame" list of people banned from entering Britain, may have been shocked himself to find some of his opponents, including civil libertarians, defending him.

On Tuesday, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith published the names of 16 of 22 people banned from the country since October for allegedly fostering extremism or hatred. Along with Savage, who has called the Quran, the Muslim holy book, "a book of hate," Muslim extremists, jailed Russian gang members and a militant Israeli settler were banned. Smith cited "public interest" reasons for not disclosing six of the names.

Since 2005, the United Kingdom has excluded 101 people for "unacceptable behavior, including animal rights extremists, right-to-life, homophobe and far-right extremists, as well as those who advocate hatred and violence in support of their religious beliefs," Robin Newmann, spokesman for the British consulate in San Francisco, said by e-mail Tuesday. In 2008, he said, Smith "introduced new measures that favored excluding people who have spread hatred."

In response, Savage both mocked the British and promised legal action. "Today it's me. Tomorrow it's someone else," he told The Chronicle.

'Weapon of censorship'

Civil libertarians say the move illustrates the increasing willingness of countries, including the United States, to "use their borders as a weapon of censorship," said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

In March, more than 70 organizations, including the ACLU, signed a letter asking Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to end "ideological exclusion," described as "refusing visas to foreign scholars, writers, artists and activists not on the basis of their actions but on the basis of their ideas, political views and associations."

While civil libertarians say the practice intensified after the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001, it recalls Cold War fears when people like Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a communist, was kept out of the United States. The letter cited people who been barred from entering the United States, including Adam Habib, a South African professor and human rights activist, Rafael de Jesus Gallego Romero, a Colombian priest who is a critic of his government, and Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss national who is a professor at the University of Oxford and described as a leading Islamic thinker. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

"While some of these people may express views that others find disagreeable, often the cure is worse than the disease," Jaffer said. "It also deprives the citizens of that country of their ability to hear dissenting views."

Creates 'Streisand effect'

Practically, such moves are largely ineffective in the Internet age. Savage's show reaches an estimated 8 to 10 million listeners on more than 350 stations nationwide but is not broadcast in Britain. Still, his program can be heard online worldwide.

Banning Savage in Britain could create an example of "the Streisand Effect," said Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which seeks to preserve "freedoms in the networked world." In 2003, singer Barbra Streisand attempted to have photos of her Malibu beachfront home removed from an online site. Publicity from her legal effort, which she lost, inspired more than a million people to view the property online.

"I'm sure right now, there are millions of people in the U.K. searching online to find out more about Michael Savage and what he said that was so offensive," said O'Brien, the foundation's international outreach coordinator. "I'd be more concerned if the U.K. law was attempting to block Mr. Savage's commentary online."

No laughing matter

Savage told The Chronicle he was shocked to learn he was on the list along with Stephen "Don" Black, who founded a white supremacist Web site in Florida, and preacher Fred Phelps, patriarch of an anti-gay Kansas church that has led protests, including some in San Francisco, at which demonstrators held signs reading "God hates fags."

"When I woke up and saw this this morning, my first thought was, damn, there goes the summer trip where I planned to have my dental work done," he joked. "My second thought was, darn, there goes my visit to the restaurants of England for their great cuisine."

But, he added, the issue is no laughing matter - and represents a serious threat to free speech. Savage said to be included in such a group is both defamatory and dangerous. He said he is preparing legal action against Smith and the British government.

"This lunatic is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia, she's putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses," he said. "My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.

"So who else will be banned - all the people who listen to my show, 10 million people? Should they also not go to Britain?"

Free speech defended

Indeed, even the Council for American-Islamic Relations - who along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation was embroiled in a lawsuit last year with Savage over on-air comments he made about Muslims and the Quran, defended his right to free expression. Last year, the organization posted clips of Savage's program and called for an advertiser boycott. Savage sued the council for copyright infringement, but a judge ruled the group's actions were protected by free speech.

Though council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper condemned Savage's anti-Islamic comments, "as a matter of principle, we don't support such bans. They tend to be selective, in that only popular speech is allowed and unpopular speech is not allowed."

Ban spurs publicity

"Usually, these types of things (the ban) just give people like this publicity," Hooper said. "I don't think Savage will be too upset. It will give him something to talk about on his show for the next six months. 'I was banned in England.' "

Indeed, Savage allowed that maybe the British government has done him a huge favor.

"If I didn't have an audience yesterday," he said, "I will have one today."