cr> a query; the German MiniJust postition

1996-01-17

Richard Moore

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Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996
Sender: "Andrew R. Mark" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: cr> The Chilling Compuserv Effect

Does anyone have the name, contact info of the head person at Compuserve?

Andrew Mark

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Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996
From: Ad van Loon <•••@••.•••>
To: Multiple recipients of list <•••@••.•••>
Subject: German-CompuServe fracas

Hi Monroe,

I read your query on this list. I will attach an article on the issue
which was written by our German partner organisation and will be
published in the January issue of our monthly legal newsletter "IRIS -
Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory".

Shortly, the Communications Media Center of the New York Law School will
announce that it is organising an international conference on the issue.

Best regards,

Ad van Loon
European Audiovisual Observatory
http://www.Obs.c-Strasbourg.fr

"GERMANY: Discussion on the legal responsibility of on-line services and
companies offering access to Internet

Following suspicion of the circulation of pornography among newsgroups on
Internet, the State Prosecution Service in Munich instigated
investigation proceedings against the German subsidiary of the on-line
service CompuServe.  These began with the impounding of private computers
whose mailboxes were found to contain pornographic material.  It is the
view of the State Prosecution Service that the company CompuServe bears
joint responsibility for the data circulating in its data network.  In
order to prevent offences being committed, checks must be made, using all
available technical means, on whether law-breaking data is reaching final
users on Internet.  The investigating authorities recognise the suspected
infringement of Article 184-3.2 of the Criminal Code (StGB) - making
pornographic documents available.  According to Article 6-2 of the StGB,
German criminal law on the circulation of pornographic documents is valid
in the cases set out in Article 184-3 of the StGB regardless of local law
in the place where the offence is committed, even for acts perpetrated
abroad.  According to a statement by a spokesman for the Federal Ministry
of Justice, German prosecution authorities could prevent access to
law-breaking material using German on-line services and companies
offering access to the computer network Internet.

In response to the State Prosecution Service's investigations, the
Munich-based American supplier CompuServe voluntarily barred 200
international discussion groups.

(Wolfgang Cloþ,
Institut f¸r Europ”isches Medienrecht - EMR"

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 Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland
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