The French anti-racism group J’Accuse has failed in a bid to
force ISPs to prevent French internet users from accessing the US
based Front14.org portal. It had initiated court action against 13
French ISPs including France Telecom and AOL France in an attempt
to block the portal, which describes itself as “on-line hate at its
best” and gives access to more than 300 web sites.
The High Court's Judge Jean-Jacques Gomez rejected the argument
put forward by J’Accuse, which was based on the need to protect
morality, on the grounds that the court should only act against
specific French sites rather than a portal. He accepted the
argument put forward by the ISPs that the illicit nature of each
site ought to be established individually before a decision is
taken as to whether they ought to be blocked.
Gomez has requested a more detailed list of offensive web sites
accessible through the portal that appear to contravene French
anti-racism laws. This list is expected to be presented before the
court in early September.
