Internet Censorship in Germany

By: charles on 23 January 2009

According to German news publication Der Spiegel, German officials are calling for ISP censorship of offensive cites in order to quell the spread of child pornography, CNET and The Inquisitr report.

With implementation slated for March, Germany’s proposed censorship scheme will follow a model similar to Norway’s to block access to child pornography. In such a model, the government issues a list of sites to be blocked by ISPs.

Germany’s Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the censorship could be extended to exclude other content from the Internet, stating “child pornography is a problem issue and clearly identifiable” but that “you can not exclude what the federal government may want to exclude in the future.”

This news represents a rising trend in Internet censorship and ISP filtration in Europe and worldwide.