According to an article in the Washington Post today, the internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. is in deep trouble for displaying Nazi memorobalia for sale in violation of French law. A federal appeals court on Thursday avoided answering whether Yahoo Inc. must pay a fine of about $15 million to a Paris court. Yahoo asked the U.S. court to rule that the judgment could not be collected in the United States because it violated the company's free speech rights. Yahoo was trying to challenge the fine levied five years ago for running an auction site in which French users could buy and sell the memorabilia banned in France. The court left open the central question of whether U.S.-based Internet service providers are liable for damages for displaying content that is unlawful overseas. The court strongly doubted Yahoo's free speech rights under U.S. law were violated, however.

In the United States, freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendement to the United States Constitution.The original text of the Constitution generated some opposition because it didn't include adequate guarantees of civil liberties. In response, the First Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, was proposed by Congress in 1789. It included freedom of speech, press, religion, etc. It was ratified on December 15, 1791. The first case to show strong opposition to the first amendment was the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Under the Sedition Act, anyone opposing or resisting any law of the United States could be imprisoned for up to two years. It was also illegal to "write, print, utter, or publish" anything critical of the president or Congress. Jeffersonians denounced the Sedition Act as a violation of the First Amendment, which granted the right of free speech.