Today, I read a news article (dutch only, sorry), about how 2 organisations in The Netherlands, where I live, are being sued for voicing a protest against certain companies that produce in India, and the working conditions they have there. What’s even more shocking, is that my ISP, xs4all, is being sued as well, because one of the organisations uses an ADSL connection of xs4all, just like I do.
Apparently xs4all is a party in this case, according to the Law in India, because the alleged slander was send out through that connection.
This sort of thing is troubling since what is very much legal in one country, is illegal in another. The legal drinking age in The Netherlands for example, is 18 years. In light of this case, someone could be prosecuted in the USA, since the legal age there is 21, sometimes 24. (depends on which state you are in). The same applies for smoking pot. It’s ‘legal’ here (not officially, but nobody will get arrested or prosecuted for it), but if this would stick, I could be extradited to another country for doing something what is illegal there.
True enough, those are very far-fetched examples. However, I think my point stands.
I’m all for international treaties, and getting people convicted. But not for doing something that is perfectly legal where they do it, and isn’t somewhere else.