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Date: 1998-06-01
compuserve.de: Da staunt die EU-Kommission
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q/depesche 98.6.1.1
updating 98.5.29.1
compuserve.de: Da staunt die EU-Kommission
und die EU/spokespersons wundern sich.
European Union Finds Porn Conviction Surprising - Report 06/01/98
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1998 JUN 1 (NB) -- By Bob Woods, Newsbytes. European
Commission (EC) officials said that they found the conviction of a
former Compuserve official on pornography and indecency charges
"surprising."
Reuters quoted a commission spokesperson as saying that the EC "learned
of this decision with a certain astonishment," and that the ruling seemed
to contradict German law.
The carrying of information across international borders needs to
be addressed, the spokesperson said, and should be coordinated
among countries.
Former Compuserve head Felix Somm was convicted last week for
spreading pornography and other indecent images over the Internet
(Newsbytes, May 29, 1998). The court found Somm guilty of complicity on
13 counts of spreading banned pornography on the Internet. The judges
agreed with the Bavarian prosecutor's original position that Somm was
guilty because Somm, as Compuserve's senior executive in Germany,
provided Internet services that made the materials accessible to
Bavarian subscribers of Compuserve.
According to Somm's attorney, Hans-Werner Moritz, the court failed to
give weight to statements of experts, the revised position of the
prosecution and German law regarding multimedia. "Certainly the fight
will go on," he said.
The Somm conviction was the first under the new German federal
multimedia law that came into effect last August. The new Information
and Communications Law declared that Internet service providers (ISPs)
are not generally held liable for material on the global Internet,
but such businesses are required to take reasonable measures to block
access to banned material, however.
The conviction came after prosecutors altered their initial position and
declared that Somm should not be liable for banned materials on the
Internet. The prosecutors had moved for acquittal of the defendant
during the trial.
For a time Compuserve blocked access to the infamous alt Usenet
newsgroup hierarchy across the world in an attempt to appease the German
authorities. The online service's move was greeted by global criticism.
Somm and his attorney, are planning to appeal.
Reported By Newsbytes News Network:
http://www.newsbytes.com
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Download free PGP 5.5.3i (Win95/NT & Mac) from Arge Daten
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edited by Harkank
published on: 1998-06-01
comments to office@quintessenz.at
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