Germany No. 2 in Google Censorship Rankings

[Oxygen]

For the first time, Google has published information about requests by governments to block or delete online content. Germany issues the second-highest number of removal requests, the company claims.



Germany is the world's No. 2 in the Google rankings, way ahead of its European neighbors. Germany made more removal requests between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2009 than the rest of the continent put together. Apart from Germany, the only other European countries that made a significant number of requests in the same period were Italy, Spain and Britain.

According to Google, unspecified German authorities required the US-based search engine giant to erase or block online content 188 times between July and December. Only Brazil demanded more than that, issuing 291 requests, according to Google's statistics.

Why, however, is China, a country that is notorious for censoring the Internet, missing from these lists? The company could not release details about China's requests because that information is classified as a state secret, Google said.

Far-Reaching Laws

Why are there so many German removal requests involving Google searches? Oberbeck explained the requests are often related to defamation, but frequently requests are made to block the sites of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers featuring content that is illegal in Germany. Germany has much more far-reaching prohibitions regarding these issues than other European countries. Not only Google, but all Internet providers follow these rules in Germany, Oberbeck said.

Google also complies with the lists compiled by Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM), whose requests to Google were included in the statistics. The BPjM, which is tasked with protecting children and adolescents in Germany from any media which might contain harmful or dangerous contents, compiles lists of publications and media products that include indecent, extremely violent, crime-inducing, anti-Semitic or otherwise racist content. In general, however, Germany's Internet providers take action by themselves to block such content.

Most video content removal requests coming from Germany were not related to copyright violations, as one might think, said Oberbeck, but had more to do with slander, illegal content and violations of terms and conditions, which had been brought to Google's attention. Copyright issues were normally settled directly with the copyright owners, Oberbeck said.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...690569,00.html

Government requests directed to Google and YouTube
http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/

[Metahumanoid]

We will see how much longer i am allowed to visit this page from this beautyfull country of free speech... -_-

[Bittereinder]

Google also complies with the lists compiled by Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM), whose requests to Google were included in the statistics. The BPjM, which is tasked with protecting children and adolescents in Germany from any media which might contain harmful or dangerous contents, compiles lists of publications and media products that include indecent, extremely violent, crime-inducing, anti-Semitic or otherwise racist content. In general, however, Germany's Internet providers take action by themselves to block such content.

And pornography is healthy for children and adolescents? The censorship is an infringement on a person’s right to freedom of information. Let us not forget that according to the rest of the world Germans don’t deserve any freedom for their so called “atrocities” of WWII. Don’t expect any current government to ban content dangerous to the individual native young German. It is not "Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons " it is the "Federal Department for Media Harmful to the Government, immigrants, race mixing, globalization and jews".

[velvet]

And pornography is healthy for children and adolescents?

This part is covered with the innocent word "indecent". The BPjM works at large independent from government, and often goes much farer than what law as such would support.
They can censor themselves with several measures, putting games, videos or music onto lists which class them either as "adult" stuff, so you have to prove that you're 18 when you buy it, but they also can block the product from selling and advertising (including mentioning on websites) in Germany, which happens regularly to music and games.

Where it should be mentioned that usually only "overly violent" or racist stuff is cencored, while they do nothing about the annoying manga porno stuff for mobile phones or other such stuff, where their activity would make some sense after all....

The censorship is an infringement on a person’s right to freedom of information.

Well, Germany has far more to offer to limit this freedom than just censorship. Transparency has never been a beloved thing in Germany. We have for example the "Datenschutzgesetz" (law for protection of (personal) data), in other countries usually Privacy Police, but while other countries do indeed protect the user's personal data, in Germany this law protects the data stored about the user or person. It applies to many things, web, contracts, bank accounts (and the behind organisations, credit investigation), which dont have to give out the data they have stored about you.

Let us not forget that according to the rest of the world Germans don’t deserve any freedom for their so called “atrocities” of WWII. Don’t expect any current government to ban content dangerous to the individual native young German. It is not "Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons " it is the "Federal Department for Media Harmful to the Government, immigrants, race mixing, globalization and jews".

Well, here in G this is not a question of either this or that, it is both and much more government agencies, that censor

I think it was our Bundesmerkel or Schäuble who said last year that Germany should look to China for effective measures to block internet content. The lists lie ready to use at the BKA (Fed. Criminal Office), the only ones still working against that, not out of the thought that we would have some sort of "rights", but out of worry that it would cause to much technical effort and extra work, are the telecom providers.

And, of course, the CCC (Chaos Computer Club)

Btw, the law which enables that was pushed through with the "child porn" argument last year, the lists contain though almost exclusively "inconvenient" sites, not porn sites.

We'll see how long I can visit skadi without a proxy... and when then proxies become illegal.


Brave new world

[Barreldriver]

I would have expected the UK to have beat Germany on the list with "Big Brother" and all. This is quite surprising and very disturbing, but I reckon this stuff shouldn't come as a surprise in 2010.

[SaxonPagan]

My wife and I had intended to flee this surveillance state called the UK a couple of years ago and Germany was one of the options we considered. However, after talking to a few people we knew over there, it soon became clear that the move would have merely taken us out of the frying pan and into the fire!

The £'s demise against the € was the final straw but I think that, just on the freedom of speech issue alone, we'd have probably ruled it out