The Possibilities and Limits of Legislation
Some viewpoints by lie. iur. David Rosenthal

"We reach tens of thousands of people, potentially millions. It's almost like having a TV network."
Donald Black, former Ku Klux Klan leader

"We are not going to change the content of our sites in the United States just because someone in France is asking us to do SO."
Jerry Yang, co-founder Yahoo

Why use legislation?
• Limit the effects, although it is an uphill battle
• Preserve social peace by showing disapproval
• Self-regulation is no silver bullet (eg. ICANN)
• Freedom of speech is not a matter the «market»
• Which law is applicable on a global network?
• The laws of all countries that affect enough people
• Every country defines the reach of its law by itself

Censoring?
• No country has unlimited freedom of speech
• What «disturbance» of public order is acceptable?
• Limiting racist speech can be a democratic act
• Switzerland: Very good experience with anti-racism-Iaws
• But: Antidemocratic regimes can abuse filtering schemes for their own purpose
• The problem: Achieving a single, worldwide standard on what hate speech to tolerate
• Political process; what are the underlying values?

Possible additional targets?
• End-users? End-user Internet providers? No
• Key Internet infrastructure providers? Maybe
• Expect long term side effects, precedents and risks
• NGOs, educational institutions? Yes, support them
• Source Internet providers? Yes
• (Almost) no provider is required to support racism
• Enough pressure will make it not worthwhile anymore

Outlook
• Pressure on (source) providers in «liberal» countries will steadily increase
• Resolute use of existing laws (eg. Yahoo case)
• New legislation
• Not finding a compromise could be of greater danger to the Net than limiting racism
• Possibilities: Safe harbors, limited regionalization

Thank vou.