Experts from the UK, France and the US yesterday told a Paris
court that it would be possible to block access by some
French internet users to a Yahoo! auction site that sells Nazi
memorabilia, contrary to the claims of the leading US portal.
The company has removed the offending site from its French
portal, yahoo.fr, to comply with the French law against the sale or
exhibition of anything that incites racism; but it refuses to
remove the auction from yahoo.com because it is not in breach of US
law. The case is being brought by two human rights groups based in
Paris. It was last heard in August and suspended pending the
outcome of the experts’ investigation.
Two of the three experts appointed in the case reported
yesterday that it would be possible to identify 70% of French
nationals accessing the auction site, being the proportion that use
an easily identifiable French ISP. The remaining 30% who use an
international ISP would be more difficult to identify and therefore
block, said the experts.
A decision by the Paris court is expected on 20th November.
