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It all started in 1998, when French fashion model Estelle Hallyday sued Web host Altern.org because one of its sites had posted nude photos of her. It was the first time a French Web host had been involved in a lawsuit, and the case sparked a huge debate in France, with many entrepreneurs talking about moving their operations to countries where laws are less stringent. Petitions were posted on the Web, and demonstrators marched through the streets of Paris demanding a more liberal attitude toward the Web and the laws that regulate it. Hallyday went on to win her case, and Altern.org has since closed shop. But those twin results did not mark the end of the story, which took another twist when French Internet laws were amended over the summer to exempt Web companies from legal liability for the content of the sites they host. Under the new law, hosts become accountable only if they do not act quickly to halt access to sites showing illicit material. But the ultimate decision to remove a Web page now resides with a judicial official. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE. Web-host employees mainly look out for sites that have had a sudden increase in traffic. At World on Line, an international ISP, two employees are in charge of scanning for sites that may be posting illegal content. But as the company's legal expert, Cyril Tisserand, comments: "These controls are random, since we are obviously not in the position to know about all the content that we host." The second part of the new law forces Web hosts to record the identity of each Web-site owner. That won't stop people from simply signing up with an offshore host if they are determined to remain anonymous. But Web hosts have come up with a charter that subscribers must commit to. "We inform them of what is generally considered illegal and punishable by law: encouraging murder and racial hate, pedophilia, and counterfeiting copyright material," says Marie-Luce Massot of the legal department at French ISP Club-Internet. But certain offenses are dealt with more drastically than others. "We are totally uncompromising when it comes to pedophilia. And we won't hesitate canceling and removing the page without warning... Counterfeiting is much more difficult to punish, since it requires an assessment we are unable to make," explains Tisserand. Despite their in-house policing, Web hosts see themselves as intermediaries rather than censors. When Web users complain to the host about a certain site, the host puts them in contact with the site owner. This way, it is clear to everyone who is responsible for content. "We are not censors, but we are here to make users aware of the laws applied to the Internet," says Mirn Vaslin, lawyer at MultiMania, France's No. 1 Web host with 5 million personal pages. The legal department at MultiMania also hosts a discussion forum on its portal. With all the talk of maintaining law and order in cyberspace, it's hard to remember that, at the core, the new laws were actually created to encourage liberty of expression on the Internet. By Sylvie Fonmarty Translated by Inka Resch |
