Yahoo Wins Court Reprieve in Nazi Sales Case
- — 25 July, 2000 11:31
The U.S. portal still allows French customers to access auction pages, but may face financial penalties if it doesn't stop doing so. The promotion of racial hatred is illegal in France. A decision in the Yahoo case from France's highest criminal court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance, is expected on August 11th.
On May 22nd, the court in Paris ordered Yahoo to make it impossible for Internet users in France to access online auction pages offering Nazi memorabilia for sale through the company's Web site because doing so violates French law.
Such material was already inaccessible to users of the company's French-language site, http://www.yahoo.fr/, but the court wanted to prevent French users from accessing the U.S. site.
Yahoo called in Internet security expert Edelweb S.A to explore possible alternatives to completely halting access, and French prosecutor Bernard Fos also petitioned for more time to explore options, the AFP report said.
The court case was brought by LICRA, the International League Against Racism and anti-Semitism, and by UEJF, the French Union of Jewish Students.
