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The Vermittlungsausschuss (Mediation Committee - VA) of the Bundestag and Bundesrat (lower and upper houses of parliament respectively) has reached an agreement on the Gesetz zur Neuordnung der Entschädigung von TK-Unternehmen für Dienste im Rahmen der Strafverfolgung (Act on the reform of compensation for telecommunications companies providing assistance with criminal prosecutions - TKEntschNeuOG). The Bundesrat had convened the VA (see IRIS 2009-2: 11) because it thought some of the fixed amounts laid down in the draft Act to compensate telecommunications companies for surveillance measures...

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...

The Oberlandesgericht Stuttgart (Stuttgart Regional Court of Appeal - OLG) has rejected an appeal by Hartplatzhelden e. V., thereby confirming the decision of the Landgericht (regional court), according to which the appellant's private video portal must not show footage of amateur football matches that fall within the responsibility of the Württemberg Football Association (WFV) (see IRIS 2008-7: 9). As the organiser of the amateur matches concerned, the WFV was considered to be the sole owner of the relevant exploitation rights. Hartplatzhelden e. V. was deemed to have violated those rights by...

The Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court - VG) has decided that the private television channel ProSieben broke youth protection legislation by broadcasting the episode "Three's a Crowd" of the series "Sex and the City" at 6p.m., and rejected the broadcaster's appeal against the objections raised by the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority - MABB). The Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the protection of young people in the media - KJM) considered the episode to be likely to harm the development of children under 12 within the meaning...

The Verwaltungsgericht Wiesbaden (Wiesbaden Administrative Court - VG) has submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) a reference for a preliminary ruling concerning, inter alia , the compatibility of the Data Retention Directive with fundamental rights. The underlying case concerns the compatibility with EC data protection law of agricultural law provisions requiring information about the recipients of certain EC agricultural subsidies to be published annually online. The VG considers the rules to be a disproportionate intrusion on the European basic right to data protection....