Features

NEW YORK — Yahoo! Inc. will stop carrying online auctions of Nazi artifacts and other hate-related materials after some users complained that such items promote hate and violence. 

The new restrictions, which take effect a week from Wednesday, could also address a November court ruling from France requiring Yahoo to block such items from French users. 

Although Yahoo has insisted it cannot limit access to certain geographic regions, as the French court ordered, Yahoo may effectively comply by blocking the items from everyone. 

The new guidelines will also apply to the site’s classified listings and its e-commerce partners. Yahoo! search directories, chat rooms and other areas are not affected. 

The senior auction producer at Yahoo, Brian Fitzgerald, said the court order played no role in the new policy, other than to raise awareness internally and speed the decision. 

“We decided we don’t necessarily want to profit from items that promote hatred or glorify hatred and violence,” Fitzgerald said. 

But Mark Gambale, a consultant at Gomez Inc. in Waltham, Mass., questioned the timing. 

“In a way, it’s a pre-emptive strike in making sure this (the French ruling) doesn’t become a serious issue,” he said. “International law has a unique way of evolving. Yahoo! is trying to clean its own house here.” 

Fitzgerald said that while some users support the trade of such items on free speech grounds, the majority of comments received by Yahoo were in opposition. 

When the new policy takes effect, Yahoo will also begin screening items before they are listed. Computer software will reject any item that appears to violate the site’s policies. Users will be able to appeal rejections to a human being. 

Auction sites have typically rejected items only after they are posted. 

Beginning next Wednesday, Yahoo will also charge sellers 20 cents to $2.25 to list an item, although it will not collect a commission on sales. Other auction sites, including eBay and Amazon.com, already charge for both. 

The newly banned items at Yahoo include medals, weapons, uniforms, official documents and other items that carry swastikas or other symbols associated with hate groups. They join a banned list that now includes cigarettes, live animals and used underwear. 

The leading online auction site, eBay, bans hate materials only in Germany, France, Austria and Italy – countries where such items are illegal. Sellers may not ship such items there, and buyers from those countries may not bid on them. 

In April, two French groups sued Yahoo under its old policies, accusing the U.S. company of violating French law barring the display or sale of racist material. 

A French judge ruled in November that Yahoo must prevent French users from auctions of such items, or face $13,000 a day in fines. On Dec. 21, the company asked a U.S. court to block the order, saying France doesn’t have jurisdiction. 

On the Net: 

http://auctions.yahoo.com 

Details on French case: http://www.cdt.org