Through the mid-1980's, a set of BBSes professed to speak for racist ideals and to spread literature for such groups. It provided interesting press, but proved, ultimately to be a tempest in a teapot.

Not something easily put into the documentary without unnecessary sensationalism is the fact that a group of white supremacists set up BBSes and even networked between each other into a sort of 'Klan Net'. This got a small amount of press in the mid 1980's, and caused concern in what "should be done". Obviously, the world didn't end, but it does bring up interesting issues.

Nothing bothers people more than the idea of extreme groups "recruiting" members to their cause, especially when it's done via a technology or approach that seems cutting-edge or beyond the usual controls of law. BBSes fit well into that sort of area in 1983-1986. While it does not appear that there were ever more than a dozen BBSes specifically dedicated to the racist causes of the Aryan Nation and White Power/White Aryan Resistance "movements", the concept of them fueled a small amount of press interest.

The current best source of information on this anomaly are the essays of research by Chip Berlet, who did a series of speeches and paper presentations about a number of political rightist situations, including racist BBSes. With his kind permission, some of this work is included below.