According to a report by Newsbytes, auction site eBay has said
that it will comply with a request from the German Government to
block Nazi memorabilia from its US-based web site. However, the ban
does not appear to be entirely effective.
Newsbytes attempted to search for Nazi-related items. It found
that the eBay search engine produced results including German army
uniforms from World War 2. However, the news service noted that
clicking on the items produced a message to the user which
explained that access to the item was being blocked on legal
grounds. However, a subsequent search by OUT-LAW.COM gave access to
Nazi daggers, coins and stamps, featuring active bids.
According to Newsbytes, the German Ministry of Justice recently
asked eBay to cease offering items related to the Nazi era, the
display for sale of such items being contrary to German law. It is
the second request of its kind following the apparent failure by
eBay to meet an undertaking given last year that it would not host
the sale of such items.
Yahoo! recently said it would block such items as a matter of
policy. In announcing the move, the company tried to distance
itself from a French court ruling which demanded that it block
access by French nationals to such sales since the sales were in
breach of French law. Again, Yahoo!'s technical measures appear to
be unsuccessful. A search today revealed active bids on several
auctions of coins imprinted with an image of the Swastika and
stamps bearing the image of Adolf Hitler.
