The New York Times recently had an article on how Craigs List is being sued for publishing ads in violation of the U.S. fair housing act. "The Ads Discriminate, but Does the Web?" One question here is whether a web site should be held liable for publishing ads that if published by a newspaper would be considered discriminatory and therefore illegal.
My question is if you extrapolate from civil rights law to human rights law a question (hypothetical?) one might ask is: If an internet provider publishes a site created by a user that promotes race hatred or genocide should they or the person who created the site be held responisible and prosecuted?
I believe some of those that broadcast radio messages in Rowanda are or have been prosecuted for their acts.
What if a web site in the U.S. publishes a web site of a user that promoted the views of David Irving who was recently convicted of Holocaust denial in Austria. If the web site were viewable in Austria could that countiry seek to arrest the creator or the publisher of the web site? I realize this question raises a lot of issues which might make it moot such as cross border jurisdiction but it might actually happen in the future.
Comments