The Net starts here. AFP US Internet company Yahoo told a court in Paris today that no filtering system to keep French surfers from Nazi memorabilia auction sites could be totally effective. According to Edelweb, filtering systems do exist which allow Internet providers to know in which country the surfer is accessing the Web, and thus keep them out of particular web-sites, but these can easily be bypassed. The judge ordered a series of expert tests to be carried out, and deferred judgment in the case until August 11.
French law prohibits exhibiting or selling objects with racist overtones.
As well as calling on the Yahoo parent company to take every possible measure to prevent access, Licra also wants Yahoo France to post a warning of the illegality of the auctions, telling users to disconnect immediately. Two years ago, a German judge gave a two-year suspended sentence to a German manager of the US Internet company CompuServe, after finding him guilty of not stopping German Internet users accessing illegal pornography. A higher court eventually overturned that ruling last year. Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2000. Any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.