The World Wide Web may have ceased to be a truly international medium after a
French judge ordered on 20 November that Yahoo must bar French users from one of
its sites. US-based Yahoo auctions Nazi memorabilia, which is illegal in France.
On 22 May, Judge Jean-Jacques Gomez ruled that Yahoo should bar French surfers
from such auctions, but he asked a panel of three computer experts to assess
whether the ban was feasible. On 6 November, the panel told the court that 90
per cent of French users could be identified and barred.
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