Quote Originally Posted by chadknowslaw View Post
That is not the same.

It is perfectly legal for a US citizen to travel to Amsterdam, smoke a joint and rent a prostitute.
It NOT legal for someone in Amsterdam to ship that same joint to a guy in Mobile, Alabama.

The important location is where the product is delivered, not where it came from, so a webmaster in Amsterdam with servers in Amsterdam does not need to comply with US law until he delivers products to a consumer in the US. Once that webmaster allows his product to be delivered to a US consumer, he is obligated to comply with US law or else decline delivery. If you want to take advantage of a particular market, you must comply with the laws that apply to sale in that market.

The laws of the US apply to anyone that sells to US consumers that are located in the US. The laws of any jurisdiction apply to goods and services delivered to that location; that is not just some US anomaly. In your Amsterdam scenario, the goods are delivered within a jurisdiction where it is legal to do so, but would land you in jail if you delivered those goods to the same consumer on US soil.

Chad, thanks for your detailed reply. What if an american enters a .nl / .de / .eu domain? I thought in that case, it's the surfer who "visits" Europe. Not the webmaster selling in the US.

Still, if foreign webmasters should obey to the US laws, than we also should follow the laws which were made in the Middle East or Far East.

Hope you can bring in some light on these matters as well.

Of course every WM should fight CP and abuse, however I am not sure if 2257 is the right way.