French need to be spanked by Nazis, hard

[John Doe #N]

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.