FC: U.S. experts testify in French lawsuit against Yahoo

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********
Background on case:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01232.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01189.html
********

> From: "Kirin Kalia" <kirin () siliconalleyreporter com>
> To: "Kirin Kalia" <kirin () siliconalleyreporter com>, <declan () well com>
> Subject: WSJ.com: Experts Testify Before French Court Hearing Yahoo! Case
> Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 13:53:47 +0100
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
>
> declan, thought this might be something for the politech list.
> best, kirin
>
>
>
> November 6, 2000
>
> Personalized E-Mail
>
>
>
> Experts Testify Before French Court Hearing Yahoo! Case
>
>
>
>
> Dow Jones Newswires
>
> PARIS (AP)--In the latest step in a legal battle over racism in 
> cyberspace, a team of Internet experts told a judge Monday that it was 
> possible to block some French Web surfers from U.S. giant Yahoo!'s (YHOO) 
> auction site, though one specialist expressed concern about Net freedom.
>
> The trans-Atlantic case began nearly seven months ago, when two 
> Paris-based anti-racism groups sued Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo!, 
> angry that French people had access to more than 1,000 objects of Nazi 
> memorabilia on the site at auctions.yahoo.com.
>
> The groups, the Union of Jewish Students and the Licra anti-racism 
> organization, argued that Yahoo! was breaking the law in France, where it 
> is illegal to sell or display objects that promote racism.
>
> A Paris judge ordered Yahoo! to pay fines to the two groups, and later 
> asked a team of experts to search for ways to filter French users from the 
> site and all other sites deemed racist.
>
> Yahoo!'s lawyers have argued that it would be impossible to keep French 
> people off the site, as cyberspace has no borders. The company is also 
> worried the case could set a global precedent that would leave Web sites 
> vulnerable to legal attacks from abroad.
>
> In Paris on Monday, three technology experts said the Yahoo! site could 
> indeed be partially controlled -but at least one of the specialists 
> expressed caution about setting such a precedent.
>
> After months of research, French expert Francois Wallon and Vinton Cerf of 
> the U.S. testified that it would be possible to detect 70% of Web surfers 
> who use an easily identifiable French Internet service provider to access 
> the auction site. Britain's Ben Laurie was also on the team but was unable 
> to attend the hearing.
...




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