Amsterdam - As the court case between US Internet giant Yahoo and a French group trying to halt the online sales of Nazi memorabilia entered a new phase this week, experts gathered here stressed how difficult it was to regulate hate speech on the Internet.
Experts attending a conference on media freedom on the Internet organised by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed on Friday that it was almost impossible to control or punish hate websites.
"The Internet is global. There is no possibility whatsoever to come with a global norm" on what constitutes illegal hate speech, said Morris Lipson a former advisor to the United Nations and president of the Article 19 organisation which fights for freedom of speech.
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Already within Europe, there are different norms in that respect. Only France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland have laws that criminalize the denial of crimes against humanity, explained Yaman Akdeniz, a professor at Leeds University in Britain.
In the United States racist thoughts can be more freely expressed than in Europe because of the freedom of speech guaranteed in the US constitution. The authorities can only intervene if someone is inciting hatred and there is a risk of immediate violence.
Racist or pro-Nazi sites can just change the country where they are registered to by-pass certain laws. But web surfers around the world still have access to such sites, including those from countries which have more strict hate speech laws.
"The recent prosecution of (US Internet search engine) Yahoo in France and the subsequent court case in (California) is a good example of the differences in legal approaches and protection provided to expression," Akdeniz said.
A French court in May 2000 ordered Yahoo to destroy all Nazi-related messages, images and text from its California bases server under penalty of a fine of 100 000 francs (around $13 300) per day.
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