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eBusiness
Whose laws rule on the Wild Wild Web?
By Lisa M. Bowman
Special to ZDNet News
May 29, 2002, 4:50 AM PT

Former Yahoo CEO Tim Koogle could find himself cuffed if he sets foot on French soil. His alleged crime: Allowing the posting of Nazi collectibles on Yahoo's U.S.-based site--an action Holocaust survivors say violates France's war crimes laws.

In another case, Russian software programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was jailed after entering the United States last year. The charges related to providing software that could be used to crack e-books, an action that is not a crime in his homeland but that violates U.S. copyright law, federal authorities say.

These are only two examples of companies and executives that do business online and are being dragged into foreign courts for selling products or posting materials that are legal in their own countries but that offend the sensibilities or violate the laws of another land. Such challenges increasingly include criminal charges.

"That is the scariest prospect for people who are either posting or doing business on the Internet," said Mike Godwin, a policy fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "If you operate a Web site that's accessible in France or even if you're an (Internet service provider) who provides services in France, you might find yourself touching down at the airport there and being served."

For more: http://netscape.com.com/2100-1106-927370.html?type=pt

Very interesting. Scarey for internetland yes, but isn't it scarier to forbid an independent nation the right to make it's own laws? To decide what it regards as a crime or not?

The thing about the web is it CROSSES boundaries, not negates them. It's a sobering reminder that it's still a part of the real world, not a world unto itself.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I suppose it's now up to website owners to check the laws of a nation they are visiting to see if they are breaking any of their said laws.

We have to do that if we want to drive, (left or right side? Is turning on red ok?) or regarding soft drugs (harsher penalties in the USA than say, Amsterdam) or imports (no animals or fruit into Australia, no chewing gum into Singapore)

Why not with information distribution? A webowner is exporting information into that country aren't they?

Wow. Maybe we should have been more controversial Charean.

Here, I'll start.

The Internet is evil and should be banned. Any nation should have the right to arrest any citizen of any other country if it wants, by walking in and taking them while they sleep.

This should be inclusive for crimes such as looking at porn, being rude to people, or not believing in Creationism.

Now let's see how we go. :D

[ 05-29-2002, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Yorick ]

I think it would be interesting if we acted like a world community and started world law.

Yeah, one world government. As long as it's a middlewing oppressively democratic government that forces people to have seven children so that we can eat babies instead of cows.

ROFLMAO Yorick... You are a riot!! [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

Reminds me of Soylent Green!

[ 05-29-2002, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: Charean ]

[img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

As I explained to jo this morning. This is a subject that has bounced around fro a while, on the Net.
Sadly, the first "defenders" of the issue came from the Pr0n industry. Age restrictions are different in countries other than the US. When some "adult" (I hate that term. [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img] Am I less than an adult because I don't view Pr0n?) filmakers came to the US for an "adult"film convention, they were arrested. It seems that in the country they filmed in the legal age for Pr0n actors is 16, which is considered illegal in the US. They were arrested, and held for a while. [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] I don't know what happened after the incident.
Copyright laws are also different. Several software companies have had executive arrested in other countries because the branches working in said countries broke copyright laws of other countries. I need to stop now, I'm confusing myself. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

You're confusing me too....

that is one thing that will never work, who would want a thing like that ?