Germany

[DE] Key Points Adopted for Combating Child Pornography

IRIS 2009-5:1/19

Christian M. Bron

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

The Bundesfamilienministerium (Federal Ministry of Family Affairs) is now using legislation as well as a voluntary agreement scheme for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to combat child pornography on the Internet.

The Bundeskabinett (Federal Cabinet) has decided on the key points of a corresponding Act, which could be implemented by summer 2009. By then, ISPs are supposed to be technically capable of blocking child pornography sites. Countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and Italy have already introduced such blocks. The aim is to create a legal basis obliging all German ISPs to make it more difficult to access Internet sites that contain or refer to child pornography in the sense of Article 184b of the Strafgesetzbuch (Criminal Code).

The document outlining the key points has been welcomed in some quarters, although critics fear the expansion of Internet censorship and consider that blocking Internet sites is ineffective.