US authority rejects complaint against Hungarian website

American authorities have said that the activities of the Hungarian far-right portal kuruc.info do not break the law, therefore they rejected a complaint by the Highest Prosecutor's Office (Legfőbb Ügyészség) against the website, writes Népszabadság. The prosecutor's office had asked for help from American authorities, because the openly racist website is on a server located in the US.

The US justice department said the Hungarian government does not have a right to limit freedom of the press, in response to a January request by the prosecutor's office to move against the website's operators.

An investigation had been launched against kuruc.info for misusing personal data. The website posted names, addresses and phone numbers of judges involved in proceedings that were started against rioters in the fall of 2006. The police have suspended their investigation against unknown perpetrators for the time being, and no decision has been made about continuing or closing it.

American authorities said that posting personal data is not a crime, and that there was no data on whether the portal encouraged violence. Consequently, taking action against the portal would be a violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

This means Hungarian police cannot take any steps against kuruc.info. The operators could only be traced if the US provided data on the server. Extensive investigation against them in Hungary is not possible, because tools such as bugging phones or monitoring e-mails can only be used with permission from a judge in cases of crimes that are punishable with over five years imprisonment. The misuse of personal data does not carry such a penalty.

National security services are not bound by the these limitations, however. They have a right to act against any activity that endangers democratic order and are likely to continue monitoring kuruc.info.

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