Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Holocaust
survivors sue Yahoo! over sale of Nazi
items By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated
Press PARIS -- Holocaust
survivors and their families said Tuesday
they are suing the chief executive of
online giant Yahoo! Inc. and accused the
company of downplaying the Holocaust with
its former online auctions of Nazi
paraphernalia. The decision to sue chief executive
Tim Koogle for a symbolic one
French franc - about 15 cents - was a
further step in French
human rights
groups' high-profile,
trans-Atlantic legal battle to hold the
U.S. Internet portal responsible for
racist material that has appeared on its
Web pages. The suit was filed two months after a
French court, in response to an earlier
lawsuit, ordered Yahoo to block Web
surfers in France from auctions where Nazi
memorabilia are sold. Yahoo pulled the
offensive material from its site earlier
this month, while continuing to oppose the
ruling. Angry at Yahoo's attitude, the
Association of Deportees of Auschwitz and
Upper Silesia filed its suit Monday
accusing Koogle of "justifying war crimes
and crimes against humanity." The group
also wants to hold Yahoo responsible for
having once carried Nazi-related items on
its site. The 1,000-member group singled out
Koogle because French law stipulates that
such charges must be brought against a
person, not a company. People charged with justifying war
crimes face up to five years in prison and
a $43,000 fine, but the group admits that
such heavy sentencing is highly unlikely,
especially since Yahoo changed its policy
by blocking racist material from its pages
at auctions.yahoo.com. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo
said the company had not been served with
the lawsuit and had no
comment. Related
items on this website: - Index
on Origins of anti-Semitism
- Will
Cyberspace Look Like France or America?
- Holocaust
survivors sue Yahoo! over sale of Nazi
items
- Yahoo!
to ban Nazi memorabilia from
website
- International
Herald Tribune on the yahoo ban: "Who
are the real Nazis?"
- Auschwitz
Survivors May Sue Yahoo CEO
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