The new restrictions, which take effect a week from Wednesday, could also address a November court ruling from France requiring Yahoo to block such items from French users. Although Yahoo has insisted it cannot limit access to certain geographic regions, as the French court ordered, Yahoo may effectively comply by blocking the items from everyone. The new guidelines will also apply to the site's classified listings and its e-commerce partners. The senior auction producer at Yahoo, Brian Fitzgerald, said the court order played no role in the new policy, other than to raise awareness internally and speed the decision. But Mark Gambale, a consultant at Gomez Inc. in Waltham, Mass., questioned the timing.
International law has a unique way of evolving.
Fitzgerald said that while some users support the trade of such items on free speech grounds, the majority of comments received by Yahoo were in opposition. When the new policy takes effect, Yahoo will also begin screening items before they are listed. Computer software will reject any item that appears to violate the site's policies. Users will be able to appeal rejections to a human being. Auction sites have typically rejected items only after they are posted.