Project Business Ethics

European Union

The approach of a large majority of (perhaps all) European Union Member States to dealing with illegal and harmful content on the Internet appears to be in accord with the 1996 recommendations of the European Commission. In these countries, laws regarding material that is illegal offline, such as child pornography and racist material, also apply to Internet content. With regard to material unsuitable for children, the EU Safer Internet Action Plan covering the period 1999-2002 has a budget of 25 million euro for, inter alia, initiatives directed to enabling end-users to better manage their own, and their children's, Internet access.

On 16 October 1996, the European Commission issued a Communication on illegal and harmful content on the Internet and a Green Paper on the protection of minors in the context of new electronic services. The EC media release stated:

"...While the Communication gives policy options for immediate action to fight against harmful and illegal content and concentrates on the Internet, the Green Paper takes a horizontal approach and will initiate a medium- and long-term reflection on the issue across all electronic media. Both documents advocate a closer co-operation between Member States and on an international level, the use of filtering software and rating systems, and an encouragement to self-regulation of access-providers."

The EU Safer Internet Action Plan covering the period 1999-2002 has a budget of 25 million euro, and has three main action lines;

·         Creating a safer environment through promotion of hotlines, encouragement of self-regulation and codes of conduct,

·         Developing filtering and rating systems, facilitation of international agreement on rating systems,

·         Awareness: Making parents, teachers and children aware of the potential of the Internet and its drawbacks, overall co-ordination and exchange of experience.

 

Germany:

In the mid 1990s, German ISPs were expected to block access to some Internet content outside Germany containing material that is illegal under German laws of general application, particularly race hate propaganda and child pornography. In July 2000, it was reported that the German government had ceased trying to bar access to content outside Germany but police would continue to aim to stop illegal "homegrown" material. In 2001 and 2002, German authorities issued takedown notices to a number of web hosts in the USA. These web hosts refused to comply. Further information on these developments is below.

In September 1996, following "advice" from the German Chief Prosecutor's Office, German Internet Service Providers started attempting to block access to sites containing material banned in Germany, such as the Netherland's based website of the magazine Radikal. This had the immediate effect of further publicising the material, and resulted in mirror sites springing up elsewhere around the world.

In july 2001 reuters report that,Germany which has some of the world's toughest laws banning race hate propaganda, has conceded defeat to the cross-border reach of the Internet and given up trying to bar access to foreign-based neo-Nazi sites. Deputy Interior Minister Brigitte Zypries, the government's Internet security chief, said this week in an interview with Reuters that it was unrealistic to try to shield Germans from foreign Web sites, even though police do aim to stop homegrown Nazi and other offensive material, such as child pornography."
(Source: Germany won't block access to foreign Nazi sites, Adam Tanner, Silicon Valley News, 25 Jul 2000)

In November 1999, a German court of appeal overturned the conviction of the former head of Internet service provider CompuServe's German operations on charges of spreading child pornography on the Web. The court said it was not possible for the CompuServe chief to block the publication of child pornography on the Internet. Reportedly, CompuServe-Germany president Frank Sarfeld hailed the court's decision, saying it re-established 'legal security' for Internet providers.

(Source: Court reverses Net porn charge, AFP, 23 Nov 1999)

The Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Children (Bundesministerium fur Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend) continues to issue takedown notices to foreign web hosts under the "Act of the Dissemination of Publications and other Media Morally Harmful to Youth" in relation to offshore sites that contain material "harmful to youth" including online pornography that would be rated X or RC in Australia. A number of web hosts in the USA were issued with these notices in 2001 and 2002, and refused to comply with the takedown request. The Ministry claims jurisdiction against web sites worldwide that contain "pornographic, extreme violence, war-mongering, racist, fascist and/or anti-Semitic content". The notices require the web host (as opposed to the website owner or content provider) to either remove the material or subject it to an age-verification system based on, for example, credit card checks.