Owners of web sites in the United States had something to be concerned about in a case involving Yahoo auctions, Nazi memorabilia, and an order from a French Court. On Wednesday, a federal district court ruled that Yahoo is not required to abide by a French Court ruling barring Yahoo from allowing Nazi memorabilia to be displayed and sold on it's American based website. See U.S. judge says Yahoo not bound by French Nazi ban.

While we don't advocate the buying or selling of nazi memorabilia, having the U.S. Court enforce a $13,000.00 fine per day for an American web site which doesn't find a way to deny access to French citizens of objectionable material would have implications for all U.S. web sites. It would place our web sites at the mercy of more restrictive laws of any nation.

A quote from Yahoo's attorney, Mary Catherine Worth:

"Today the judge basically he said it was not consistent with the laws of the United States for another nation to regulate speech for a U.S. resident within the United States"
- William Slawski