Summary
New means of cross-borders communication, the Internet it is not regulated by a set of rules at the international level. How should an Internet company like Yahoo! decide about which country’s law to respect? We discuss the case of the selling of nazi objects on the auction site of Yahoo!, an illegal practice under French law but a constitutional right in the U.S. We emphasize the difficulties for a leader to act on the basis of his own ethical values and give tools for the management of public and media crisis.
Required readings
• Hunter, Marc, Le Menestrel, Marc & de Bettignies, Henri-Claude. “Yahoo! on trial Case A”. INSEAD Case Study N° 4956, 2001.
Questions to prepare: Are you totally free to say whatever you want? Should you?
Optional reading
• Hunter, Marc, Le Menestrel, Marc & de Bettignies, Henri-Claude. “Yahoo! on trial Case B”. INSEAD Case Study N° 4956, 2001.
• Diamond, E. and Bates, S. “Law and order comes to cyberspace”, in Technological Review (October 1995).
