The Front 14 portal currently offers domain hosting, web animation and marketing services to groups supporting the Nazi era. It supports over 400 individual neo-Nazi web sites, according to the AIPJ. The group is asking for General Communications, a US-based web site hosting company which carries the Front 14 portal, to be banned from offering access to the web site to French users. It is against French law to publish material that incites racial hatred.
The AIPJ also wants AFA, the French association of ISPs whose members cover 87% of French internet users, to block access to the site. The AFA previously refused the AIPJ’s direct request because it said such action would require controls on all internet users, in breach of their privacy rights.
The case will again bring those worried about the growth of extreme material on the internet and free speech activists head to head. It will also revisit the difficulties in applying national censorship laws to the internet. Yahoo! is still fighting a French court ruling of last November that ordered the portal to block access to certain auction sites selling Nazi memorabilia. Although Yahoo! removed the auctions, it is seeking a declaration from a US court that the French court has no authority over it.