<nettime> Yahoo! loses ruling on Nazi sites

["nettime's roving reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

[We can bet that the Americans will complain, because until now, American
law was Internet law. Now, perhaps, a real mixture of international laws
will emerge?]




Yahoo! loses ruling on Nazi sites
November 20, 2000 10:31 AM PT

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2655972,00.html

In a landmark ruling with potential implications for Web users around the
world, a French court on Monday ordered U.S. Internet giant Yahoo! to bar
French users from visiting sites that sell Nazi memorabilia.

Judge Jean-Jacques Gomez confirmed a ruling that he first issued on May 22
ordering Yahoo! to prevent people in France from accessing
English-language sites that auction Nazi books, daggers, SS badges, and
uniforms.

He had stayed the decision pending testimony from three computer experts
on whether the ruling was technically viable.

Gomez ordered Yahoo! to conform with the findings of the panel, submitted
on Nov. 6, that a filter system registering keywords could block access to
the offending sites for 90 percent of French Web surfers.

90 days to comply He gave the California-based company 90 days to enact
the measures and said it would be fined 100,000 francs ($13,000) for each
day it exceeded the deadline.

The case was brought to court by the Paris-based International League
Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) and the Union of French Jewish
Students (UEJF). A third French anti-racist group, MRAP (Movement Against
Racism), joined the action at a later stage.

Gomez upheld their complaint that Yahoo! had to respect French laws
prohibiting the exhibition or sale of objects that incite racial hatred.

The ruling could have implications for other big U.S. Internet businesses
with global reach, such as the e-retailer Amazon.com Inc. and online
auctioneer eBay Inc..

Yahoo! fought the case primarily on the grounds that its English-language
Yahoo.com services are U.S.-governed and that auctions of Nazi material
cannot be barred because of U.S. constitutional rights to freedom of
speech.

Contrary to a global Web? Yahoo!'s French-language portal fr.yahoo does
not host such auctions, but French surfers, like all others, can switch
over to Yahoo.com services with a click of the mouse.

The company had also argued that there was no fail-safe way to identify
French surfers and block access.

Three Web security experts told the court earlier this month that a
filtering system could work by testing the Internet service provider
address of Web surfers as well as the keywords they used.

They said such a system would work for up to 90 percent of users.

One of the team, Vinton Cerf of the United States, said at the time that
he believed the move was contrary to the very idea of a World Wide Web, an
electronic galaxy where information and ideas were exchanged with no
physical borders.


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