Anti-racist group seeks to block neo-Nazi site

Front14, which has the logo "online hate at its best," offers domain hosting, web animation and Web marketing services for neo-Nazi organizations. A Paris court will hear the case on June 29.

The case will again marks the standoff between the free speech advocates who feel that the Internet should be uncensored, and those who fear the possible evil effects of unbridled freedom.

AIPJ is trying to get front14.org's US hosting company, General Communication, banned from offering access to the Web site to France-based surfers. It also wants the French ISP association AFA, which has all major French providers, to block access to the site.

"We need to solve this problem. We cannot tolerate our laws being flouted by this site which acts like an incubator for nearly 500 neo-Nazi sites," Reuters quoted AIPJ lawyer Stephane Lilti as saying.

Last year, a French court ruled that Yahoo had to bar French-based surfers from accessing its sites that sold Nazi paraphanalia, as well as sites that made "an apology" for Nazism.

"Incitation to racial hatred is a crime and everybody knows that," Lilti told Reuters. "And technically it is quite possible for ISPs to blacklist certain Web sites."

However, AFA is arguing that limiting access to Front14 would require controls on all Web users, and thus infringe on privacy rights.