The "International" category contains notices demanding takedowns from sites outside of the United States, invoking non-US law. We post them to give transparency to the "notice and takedown" process. Chilling Effects does not currently have the resources to annotate these notices with respect to the varying laws that may apply, but posts data for informational purposes.
A few general notes: As with the U.S. C&Ds;, Chilling Effects posting does not imply a judgment about the notice's legal validity, applicability, or indicate whether the notice was acted upon.
The varying substantive law of different countries means postings legal in one country might be unlawful in another. For example, French law outlaws public exhibition of Nazi symbols; U.S. law would protect that speech under the First Amendment. Jurisdiction, where and under what laws a person can be sued, matters too. Just because a website is accessible anywhere doesn't mean its proprietor can be sued anywhere. A U.S. company with no assets or business contacts abroad doesn't generally need to worry about non-U.S. law. Jurisdiction questions get murkier when a company has contacts or assets abroad -- Yahoo! sued a French group who had won an order from a French prohibiting Yahoo! from allowing French citizens access to Nazi memorabilia, (Yahoo v. LICRA). The 9th Circuit dismissed Yahoo's challenge on mootness and procedural grounds.
If you too want to contribute to the transparency of notice-and-takedown procedures around the world, please submit your C&Ds; to Chilling Effects. If you are a lawyer or legal academic ouside the U.S. who would like to participate in the Clearinghouse project, please let us know.
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