Attorneys for Yahoo strenuously argued that a Web site can't distinguish between "Nazi" used in a dangerous context and legitimately -- say, in "The Diary of Anne Frank." If a filter is placed on certain words to comply with the judge's order, wholesale chunks of content could disappear from Yahoo. Separately, eBay and Amazon have found work-arounds to satisfy the French laws, but neither are perfect, according to ZDNet News.
Using basic Net filters, I remember being unintentionally denied access to benign content that would mention words like "Middlesex," as in the Massachusetts county. Frankly, I found the filters offensive and promptly ditched them.
Reaction to the ruling was so strong that even Reuters, which usually presents unbiased bare facts, called the judge's decision "a dangerous step" in the first sentence of its dispatch. Understand, that's the usual knee-jerk reaction from journalists to any curbing of free expression. Most of the time, I'm right there with the journalistic consensus.
For the most part, I agree this time, too, but more on practical than philosophical grounds. Nary a louder group exists than free-speech advocates, so when I hear "dangerous precedent," I take it with a grain of salt. I know this invites the reaction, "Oh, I suppose that's how 'decent' Germans felt in 1939."
Lost in the rhetoric
Most of the coverage following the ruling centered on how the French can get around their domestic version of Yahoo, where there is no trade in the controversial items, to the English edition that allows it. How, shocked free-speech advocates asked, could this judge have the nerve to set national boundaries to limit what can appear on Web sites?
Yes, we have to protect free speech and object to boundaries, but I just can't work myself into a lather about protecting the trade in Nazi memorabilia, or many other fringe causes, for that matter. At the same time, I see little danger to society in this specific activity. There are shops near all of us in the United States that trade in such items, and I've never heard a peep about them. Still, I know many U.S. citizens are deeply offended at the sight of anything symbolising that dark period in German history.
Lost in all the rhetoric attacking the judge's ruling was the intent of the French law being upheld. It bars sales or exhibits of anything with racist overtones, according to Reuters. "That's the French for you," a colleague groaned, disgusted with the political correctness of the Gallic position.
To be honest, I applaud the French law. How ironic that it's the Web working against the notion of the global village in this case, when it has vast powers to strengthen it.
Regardless, universal good feelings toward your fellow man and woman can't be legislated. We can only evolve, and in some small way the French just happen to be ahead of most others in this respect.
