By requiring that the names of all who publish on the Internet be registered with authorities, the bill could prompt an exodus of French users to Net companies in other nations, opponents say. The legislation, passed by the House and being debated in the Senate this week, would apply to any company that hosts World Wide Web pages viewable by the public. It is apparently without precedent in Europe and the United States. Estelle Halliday being posted on a free Web site without her permission. It seeks to place legal liability for what is published on a Web site on the individual that creates it rather than on Internet Web hosting companies.
Web hosting companies provide users on the Net with space on networked computer servers.
It's popular for everything from personal pages showcasing a family's photographs to pages created by political advocacy groups. While the French legislation would make it easy to track down cybercriminals, its principle aim is to eradicate anonymity in Web page publishing, said Philippe Chantepie, a technical advisor for the French Culture Ministry. After all, the Internet has no boundaries. The European Internet Service Providers Association is unaware of any similar legislation on the continent. Spokesman Joe McNamee says the industry group hasn't taken a position on the bill but also hasn't been consulted and considers the measure flawed.