Germany Joins Censoring Nations

CK - Washington.   A divisive issue splits German public opinion before the upcoming elections: To censor or not? The third step of censorship--after the ever-expanding identification requirement for Internet participants known as Impressumspflicht and logging requirements for Internet access providers of their customers' activities--targets trafficking in child-pornographic material. Despite the fact that there is no statutory basis for a censoring obligation, many ISPs in Germany feel pressured by the federal government to apply censorship standards. A public list contains the ISPs who implement new barriers known as Netzsperre. Internet experts point to the failure of censorship in Australia and elsewhere and complain that the newest expansion of censorship is driven by technically indefensible, populist arguments. They argue that the targeted traffickers use means other than the Web.