http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010622/wr/internet_hate_dc_2.html Friday June 22 1:32 PM ET Group Seeks Injunction to Block Racist Web Site By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) - A French anti-racism group is asking for an injunction to block access to a neo-Nazi U.S. Web portal, a move set to fuel a running debate about Internet controls. International Action for Justice (AIPJ), whose action comes amid transatlantic wrangling over a separate case against U.S. Internet service provider Yahoo! over xenophobic sites, wants France cut off from the U.S. ``Front14'' portal which acts as a free speech space for racists. Front 14's Web site, which carries the slogan ``online hate at its best,'' offers domain hosting, web animation and web marketing services for neo-Nazi organizations wanting to get onto the Internet. The site currently groups well over 400 racist Web sites and has scores more under construction, according to the AIPJ, which will seek the injunction in a Paris court on June 29. The debate pits those concerned about the proliferation of extreme material on the Internet against proponents of free speech and highlights the difficulties in applying national censorship laws to the Web. ``We are asking these national ISPs to prevent access to an address that is offering hosting and web services for illegal, neo-Nazi militant Web sites,'' said AIPJ's lawyer Stephane Lilti. ``We need to solve this problem. We cannot tolerate our laws being flouted by this site which acts like an incubator for nearly 500 neo-Nazi sites,'' he told Reuters, noting that some of the sites in question are based in France. AIPJ wants General Communication Inc., a U.S. Web site hosting company which carries front14.org, to be banned from offering access to the Web site to France-based Internet users. It also wants French ISP association AFA, whose members include all major French providers covering 87 percent of French Web users, to block access to the site. However, the AFA, which was not immediately available for comment Friday, has told the AIPJ it will not back its stand and argued that limiting access to Front14 would infringe on privacy rights as it would require controls on all Web users. Chicago-based General Communication was also unavailable for comment. The case comes amid an ongoing spat over a French lawsuit filed last year by barrister Charles Korman which resulted in a Paris court ordering Yahoo! to alter its American servers so that France-based Web surfers could not access Nazi-related material on the Internet. Yahoo! is still fighting the ruling. The Council of Europe is drafting the world's first treaty against cybercrime, a text due to be approved this month which could become a global standard to fight Internet crime. But the treaty has come under fire for being vague and Council deputies have expressed disappointment that there is no specific provision to make it illegal to spread racist propaganda and hate messages on the Web. ``Incitation to racial hatred is a crime and everybody knows that. And technically it is quite possible for ISPs to blacklist certain Web sites,'' Lilti said.