legal problems in Germany? - GoFuckYourself.com

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 04:27 PM

As this is my first post on GFY I decided to open a new thread right on;-) Let me start with a short introduction of myself; I have about 8 months experience as webmaster for a smaller TGP. I´m working together with my friend and businesspartner Binghiman. My location is at this time Germany, which is part of the problem I am going to talk about in this post. Ok let me get to the point and start with my small query.

As a webmaster located in Germany I have informed myself about the legal situation regarding pornographic material on the Internet as well as advertising for websites in Germany. It doesn´t look good, I can tell you. According to German criminal law (Strafgesetzbuch §184) it is illegal to make pornographic material available to people under the age of 18. The penalty is prison for up to 1 year or a fine (could be really expensive!) As if this isn´t enough, german law also prohibites advertising of pornographic material if it is possible that minors can take part of it (GjS §1-6). As you probably can imagine we are here facing a huge problem, not just for the ones of us located in Germany in fact; I suppose most of you guys have German visitors on your homepages? There are also some case law regarding this questions and here comes the "the part that makes things still much worse" for us webmasters of TGP:s - we are responsible for the content of our links, this regardless if you use a text to disclaim responsebility for the content therein etc. If you have links with pornographic material - as all of us have since this is our business - the above metioned laws are applicable? (case law: OLG Munich / 21 U 1914/02).

How can we as webmasters guarantee that our german visitors are over the age of 18? Actually we can't?. Installing an online credit card solution will not be sufficient according to the case studies I mentioned; and thus you could still be held responsible if a minor will get into your restricted area.

Maybe some of you have information / solutions to this problem? I would very much appreciate your opinion about this! How do you German webmasters handle these facts?

Thank you for taking you time reading my first post!

Best regards,

Dr Love

10-04-2002, 04:29 PM

Geh' fick Dich !

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 04:34 PM

Equinox - another german retard? Who won the ....?

KingK7 · 10-04-2002, 05:13 PM

Schweinhund. Schnell. Achtung.

Those are the 3 german words I know, and that is what I am contributing to this thread.

eru · 10-04-2002, 05:16 PM

Host your sites in USA and do offshore banking and you're set. That's what my German friend does and it's working out greatly for him.

J B · 10-04-2002, 05:18 PM

http://www.jaginforum.de/

You should get some answers there. If you register you will find a special forum dedicated to law stuff.

BTW Geh' fick Dich selbst

jimmyf · 10-04-2002, 05:22 PM

Why did you ever even start hosting in Germany.... thehun host his in the USA even.. let me know and I can give you my account Rep... with little hosting company I use... there name is Verio.. Roman can get you set up Fast....

10-04-2002, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr Love
Equinox - another german retard? Who won the ....?

Not a german retard, more like someone who happens to speak German fluently and who told you to gofuckyourself. Can't deal with it ?

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 05:35 PM

Thanks for your replies! Actally I am hosting in The USA. The problem is that I have my domain registred by Joker in Germany, this will allthough change in the near future.

To be 100%´on the safe side you would have to host under an alias and block all German visitors I suppose.

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 05:38 PM

no Equinox, I have no problem with that since I'm fluently in German to. I look for serios answers allthough - this is really a problem for german webmasters meiner Meinung nach

steffie · 10-04-2002, 05:40 PM

http://www.adultwebmasterforum.de

There are the newest laws which you are talking about, also that the unions are fighting them.

Ich bin aus Bamberg

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 05:49 PM

Thank you Steffi!

Dr Love · 10-04-2002, 05:53 PM

Is it really possible to run a TGP site from Germany with a legal situation like this? It would be interesting to here some other webmasters thoughts about this? Do you calculate with this risk?

xenium · 10-04-2002, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jimmyf
Why did you ever even start hosting in Germany.... thehun host his in the USA even.. let me know and I can give you my account Rep... with little hosting company I use... there name is Verio.. Roman can get you set up Fast....

the hun is not a german....

but he's Dutch... different laws.

Rochard · 10-04-2002, 08:06 PM

Interesting post..... But this opens up a can of worms.

Can the parent of an 17 year old US boy take you to court if your in Germany? And what if you live in a country where there are no such laws?

I know we need to protect our children from porn, but come on - Newsgroups is full of porn. Can I sue my ISP if my child sees free porn on newsgroups?

10-04-2002, 04:27 PM	#1
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	legal problems in Germany? As this is my first post on GFY I decided to open a new thread right on;-) Let me start with a short introduction of myself; I have about 8 months experience as webmaster for a smaller TGP. I´m working together with my friend and businesspartner Binghiman. My location is at this time Germany, which is part of the problem I am going to talk about in this post. Ok let me get to the point and start with my small query. As a webmaster located in Germany I have informed myself about the legal situation regarding pornographic material on the Internet as well as advertising for websites in Germany. It doesn´t look good, I can tell you. According to German criminal law (Strafgesetzbuch §184) it is illegal to make pornographic material available to people under the age of 18. The penalty is prison for up to 1 year or a fine (could be really expensive!) As if this isn´t enough, german law also prohibites advertising of pornographic material if it is possible that minors can take part of it (GjS §1-6). As you probably can imagine we are here facing a huge problem, not just for the ones of us located in Germany in fact; I suppose most of you guys have German visitors on your homepages? There are also some case law regarding this questions and here comes the "the part that makes things still much worse" for us webmasters of TGP:s - we are responsible for the content of our links, this regardless if you use a text to disclaim responsebility for the content therein etc. If you have links with pornographic material - as all of us have since this is our business - the above metioned laws are applicable? (case law: OLG Munich / 21 U 1914/02). How can we as webmasters guarantee that our german visitors are over the age of 18? Actually we can't?. Installing an online credit card solution will not be sufficient according to the case studies I mentioned; and thus you could still be held responsible if a minor will get into your restricted area. Maybe some of you have information / solutions to this problem? I would very much appreciate your opinion about this! How do you German webmasters handle these facts? Thank you for taking you time reading my first post! Best regards, Dr Love

10-04-2002, 05:16 PM	#5
eru Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hawai'i Posts: 2,612	Host your sites in USA and do offshore banking and you're set. That's what my German friend does and it's working out greatly for him. __________________ <font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Verdana">This thread will self-destruct in 5 seconds.</font><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Verdana"><br> <br> <font size="1">In the meantime, consider hosting with <a href="http://www.choopa.com"><font color="#00FF00">Choopa</font></a> -- The only provider with 9 x 1000mbps Transit Redundancy</font></font>

10-04-2002, 05:18 PM	#6
J B Confirmed User Join Date: May 2002 Location: StatsRemote.com Posts: 1,804	http://www.jaginforum.de/ You should get some answers there. If you register you will find a special forum dedicated to law stuff. BTW Geh' fick Dich selbst __________________ A HUGE TIME SAVER FOR LESS THAN $1 PER DAY! Contact: support A\|T statsremote D\|O\|T com

10-04-2002, 05:22 PM	#7
jimmyf OU812 Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: California Posts: 12,651	Why did you ever even start hosting in Germany.... thehun host his in the USA even.. let me know and I can give you my account Rep... with little hosting company I use... there name is Verio.. Roman can get you set up Fast.... __________________ Epic CashEpic Cash works for me Solar Cash Paysite Plugin Gallery of the day freesites,POTD,Gallery generator with free hosting

10-04-2002, 05:40 PM	#11
steffie Confirmed User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Somewhere in the Mountains, far far away Posts: 2,422	http://www.adultwebmasterforum.de There are the newest laws which you are talking about, also that the unions are fighting them. Ich bin aus Bamberg __________________ Partying since '96 and not going anywhere Anna's Dorm

10-04-2002, 04:29 PM	#2
X37375787 Guest Posts: n/a	Geh' fick Dich !

10-04-2002, 04:34 PM	#3
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	Equinox - another german retard? Who won the ....?

10-04-2002, 05:13 PM	#4
KingK7 Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 6,372	Schweinhund. Schnell. Achtung. Those are the 3 german words I know, and that is what I am contributing to this thread.

10-04-2002, 05:35 PM	#9
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	Thanks for your replies! Actally I am hosting in The USA. The problem is that I have my domain registred by Joker in Germany, this will allthough change in the near future. To be 100%´on the safe side you would have to host under an alias and block all German visitors I suppose.

10-04-2002, 05:38 PM	#10
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	no Equinox, I have no problem with that since I'm fluently in German to. I look for serios answers allthough - this is really a problem for german webmasters meiner Meinung nach

10-04-2002, 05:49 PM	#12
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	Thank you Steffi!

10-04-2002, 05:53 PM	#13
Dr Love Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6	Is it really possible to run a TGP site from Germany with a legal situation like this? It would be interesting to here some other webmasters thoughts about this? Do you calculate with this risk?

10-04-2002, 08:06 PM	#15
Rochard Jägermeister Test Pilot Industry Role: Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: NORCAL Posts: 74,606	Interesting post..... But this opens up a can of worms. Can the parent of an 17 year old US boy take you to court if your in Germany? And what if you live in a country where there are no such laws? I know we need to protect our children from porn, but come on - Newsgroups is full of porn. Can I sue my ISP if my child sees free porn on newsgroups? __________________ “The choice is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal and crazy.” - Sarah Huckabee Sanders YNOT MAIL \| THE BEST ADULT MAILING SOLUTION