Stardate 20010609.0538 (On Screen): I very much hope that
Yahoo! prevails in this case. It's not that I want them selling so-called "Nazi memorabilia" Rather, it's that they're attempting to establish a fundamental principle of jurisdiction which will affect us all. (The struggle for our freedom manifests in odd ways. It's important to keep your eye on the fundamental issues.)
The web is right-next-door for everyone. So does that mean that everyone's laws should apply to everyone else? Yahoo! is arguing that if an American puts material on a site hosted in the US, then French law doesn't have jurisdiction. That seems eminently reasonable to me. But if they lose, then all of us in the US have lost our Constitutional rights over the web, because it means that we can only post something if it complies with the laws of every country on earth. So if any nation anywhere passes a law which, say, forbids public discussion of birth control methods then every site in the US would have to remove any such information. That's not acceptable. Fortunately, I think it's highly likely that Yahoo! will win. (discuss)
