From declan+@CMU.EDUMon Jul 22 11:05:21 1996 Received: from vorlon.mit.edu (brnstndkramden.acf.nyu.edu@VORLON.MIT.EDU [18.238.0.139]) by eff.org (8.6.13/8.6.6) with ESMTP id RAA29641; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 17:34:41 -0700 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by vorlon.mit.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) id UAA17615 for fight-censorship-outgoing; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:32:28 -0400 Received: from po7.andrew.cmu.edu (PO7.ANDREW.CMU.EDU [128.2.10.107]) by vorlon.mit.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id UAA17611 for ; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:32:23 -0400 Received: (from postman@localhost) by po7.andrew.cmu.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) id UAA18062 for fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:32:20 -0400 Received: via switchmail; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:32:20 -0400 (EDT) Received: from unix20.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:31:00 -0400 (EDT) Received: from unix20.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:30:59 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mms.4.60.Jan.26.1995.18.43.47.sun4c.411.EzMail.2.0.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.unix20.andrew.cmu.edu.sun4c.411 via MS.5.6.unix20.andrew.cmu.edu.sun4c_411; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:30:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 20:30:59 -0400 (EDT) From: "Declan B. McCullagh" To: Fight Censorship Mailing List Subject: German net-legislation due this year X-HotFlash: Yes Sender: owner-fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Precedence: bulk X-URL: http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/top/ X-JusticeOnCampusURL: http://joc.mit.edu/ More info is at: http://www.eco.de http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/ -Declan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BONN, GERMANY, 1996 JUN 25 (NB) -- Edzard Schmidt-Jotzig, the German Justizminister, has revealed that a new set of Cyberspace regulations will be introduced later this year. According to officials with the Justizministerium, the legislation will free Internet service providers (ISPs) in Germany from having to be responsible for policing their services for pornography and/or neo-nazi information. The legislation is similar to that currently being proposed by the European Commission (EC), and will only allow prosecution where it can be demonstrated that the ISP was aware of such transgressions, yet did nothing about it. Sources suggest that the legislation could take some time to be debated by the Bundesrat, as several states in Germany are known to favor the introduction of their own more rigorous rules. Such legislation may not have come in time for German Internet users, Newsbytes notes. Several ISPs in Germany are now spooling a mirror of their outbound Usenet feed to the de-cix site. According to reports from Germany, all postings to newsgroups will "occasionally" be checked for compliance with German laws. Plans call for a so-called Internet Content Task Force (ICTF) will be able to either cancel unwanted postings or even bar whole newsgroups from access in Germany. Plans also call for the ICTF to support any investigations carried out by the legal German authorities with their log files. [...] The announcement of plans to introduce Internet legislation confirms plans announced last month that no draconian Internet-specific legislation would be introduced. As reported last month by Newsbytes, Juergen Ruettgers, the popular German research and technology minister, said that the Internet service provider (ISP) industry in Germany should be able to regulate its own affairs, rather than rely on the government for stringent controls. Ruettgers said at the time that the German government would not tolerate the distribution of neo-Nazi propaganda, child pornography, or other such information in the Internet. He told journalists that such information distribution is already outlawed under German law, so there is no need for Internet-specific legislation. Ruettgers admitted, however, that the current mood in the US surrounding the Internet is such that the German government is under pressure to act on the perceived problem. He also noted that the various state governments could use the issue to strengthen their own legislation, and so damage the expansion of the Internet in Germany. According to Ruettgers, the best way to encourage the creation of new jobs in the fledgling ISP industry in Germany is to leave it well alone as regards regulation. Any legislation that is required, he said, could be integrated fairly easily into the current crop of laws being introduced this year in preparation for the open competition rules mandated by the European Commission (EC) for January, 1998, introduction.