PARIS – The Paris Court of Justice ordered the US hosts of the Holocaust-denying web site Aaargh to prevent any French web surfers from accessing the site and to provide the court with the whereabouts of the site’s authors.
In a former court decision, the judges told the plaintiffs to sue the hosts before turning to the Internet access providers.
Three companies were identified as hosts of the incriminated web site. Two of them, OLM and Globat, decided to terminate the contract with Aaargh but the third one, ThePlanet.com, a company incorporated in the US refused to do so. The French court ordered ThePlanet.com to “prevent any access to the Internet site from the French territory.” The court also demanded that the company identify the owners and operators of the web site.
The plaintiffs and the Internet access providers are due to meet in court again on May 30.
Aaargh's web site provides free access to more than 200 antisemitic and Holocaust-denying books and brochures, an offence according to French law.
In a related issue, the French anti-racist organization MRAP deplored the decision of the Paris Court of Appeals declaring Timothy Koogle not guilty of incitement to racial hatred. While Koogle was CEO of Yahoo, Nazi paraphernalia could be bought online through this search engine, an offence according to French law. The Paris Court said Koogle was the creator of Yahoo and not the owner of the site selling the illegal material. Hence, he could not be held responsible for the material sold on this particular site.
Not so, argued MRAP, Koogle should be held responsible, since Yahoo created a dedicated directory path on its servers called ‘White Pride.’
Reprinted with permission from CRIF, the umbrella body representing the organized Jewish community of France.
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