Germany approves strengthened child abuse law

'Stop' screen to harass seekers of verboten images

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Law, 23rd April 2009 14:38 GMT

Free whitepaper – Optimizing the data center for cost and efficiency

The German Cabinet has approved a law to strengthen the existing ban on child sex abuse images.

The law, already agreed by two large ISPs, will display a 'Stop' sign to anyone who tries to access websites included on a list prepared by the police.

Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the law aimed to stop the 300,000 to 450,000 requests made by German residents for abusive images every year. Guttenburg accepted that technically savvy users would be able to bypass the Stop signs but suggested that they would help discourage people.

He also told Faz.Net it was important the law not become a backdoor for censorship, so other types of content were explicity excluded.

There's a Google translation of the interview here.

German police will provide ISPs with a daily list of about 1,500 sites they want blocked. ®

Free whitepaper – Blade learning lab and technical community