more on Internet censorship

[Earl Young]

     German law is very strict in a number of areas we'd consider protected 
     by the First Amendment.  The laws were passed after WWII - initially 
     to keep ex-and-wannabe-Nazis from distributing their material.  There 
     was/is a concern on the part of many in Germany that hate speech is 
     dangerous.  Recent troubles - including the murders of Turkish workers 
     and a general anger on the part of some toward non-Aryan peoples - has 
     kept the issue alive.  Certain types of "speech" are banned regardless 
     of how it is spread - and the laws do not single out the Internet 
     while ignoring other methods.
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: more on Internet censorship
Author:  jqj at darkwing.uoregon.edu at INTERNET
Date:    6/9/97 11:02 AM


     
     
     
>From Edupage, 8 June 1997:
     
  GERMAN COURT TO TRY WOMAN FOR GUERRILLA HYPERLINKS
  A court in Berlin will hear the case of a woman accused of providing 
  a hyperlink on her Web site to provide visitors access to the banned 
  left-wing publication Radikal, a publication which offers 
  instructions on how to sabotage railway lines.  (New York Times
   6 Jun 97 & 7 Jun 97)
     
To be in compliance with German law, it would seem important that any 
librarian or scholarly researcher compiling lists of Internet resources 
relevant to terrorism avoid (self-censor) such links.
     
Note that I have *not* posted this to filt4lib, since although it involves 
censorship as it may impact libraries, it does not directly involve 
filtering.