German Search Engines create a self-censorship-organisation
The German internet search engines Google.de, Lycos Europe, MSN
Germany, AOL Germany, Yahoo.de, T-Online and T-Info have joined
forces to create a self-censorship organisation
under the hood of the German FSM (the "Voluntary Self-Control
for Multimedia Service Providers")
to systematically tackle the removal of links to web content
banned by German law.
The project especially aims at automating the filtering out of
URLs on the index of Germany's Federal Department for Media
Harmful to Young Persons (BPJM).
Forbidden in Germany and restricting the freedom of speech are
e.g. child pornography, certain other types of pornography (like
bestiality), right wing extremist "hate" sites, incitement to
commit crimes, race discrimination, treasonable conduct as an
agent for sabotage purposes or glorification of violence.
There will be a centralized server containing a blacklist of
banned URLs. Germans will still be able to use the non-German
editions of the search engines, thus having access to the
"censored" material, just as they have now.
February 25, 2005,
Search engine providers practice self-regulation,
Heise:
"In Berlin today the search engine providers Google, Lycos
Europe, MSN Deutschland, AOL Deutschland, Yahoo, T-Online
and t-info announced the creation of a self-regulatory
organization under the umbrella of the "Voluntary
Self-Control for Multimedia Service Providers."
February 25, 2004: Krempl, Stefan,
Suchmaschinen filtern jugendgefährdende Angebote,
Telepolis:
"Deutsche Suchmaschinenbetreiber geloben in einem
Verhaltenskodex, rund 1000 vom Bund indizierte Websites in
einem Akt der Selbstkontrolle nicht mehr anzuzeigen."
February 24, 2005:
Selbstzensur der Suchmaschinen - Schluss mit Porno,
Stern:
"Eine Vereinbarung großer Suchmaschinenbetreiber in
Deutschland dürfte einigen Staub aufwirbeln: Künftig soll
der Zugang zu rechtsextremistischen oder pornografischen
Webseiten deutlich erschwert werden."
February 24, 2005:
Selbstregulierung der Suchmaschinenanbieter,
Heise:
"Die Suchmaschinenanbieter Google, Lycos Europe, MSN
Deutschland, AOL Deutschland, Yahoo, T-Online und t-info
haben heute in Berlin die Gründung einer eigenen
Selbstregulierungsorganisation unter dem Dach der
Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter
(FSM) angekündigt."
