Yahoo! Heads for Standoff with French Court

Yahoo! says it will not limit French Web users access to the sale of Nazi memorabilia on its auction site, despite a court order asking the portal to do so. Under French law, it is illegal to exhibit or sell objects with racist overtones. Yahoo's auction site regularly displays Nazi, neo-Nazi and Klu Klux Klan objects that are up for bidding. Lawyers for Yahoo had told the French court that it was not technically possible for the company to scan the content of all its sites, and Yahoo officials said that the court order endangered the development of the Internet. The suit was filed by the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism and the Union of French Jewish Students.